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THE ADVENTURES OF 
THE FOURTEEN POINTS 



THE ADVENTURES OF 
THE FOURTEEN POINTS 

VIVID AND DRAMATIC EPISODES OF THE PEACE 
CONFERENCE FROM ITS OPENING AT PARIS TO 
THE SIGNING OF THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES 



BY 



HARRY HANSEN 



"J am doubtful whether any body of men tvith a 
difficult task have worked under greater difficulties 
—stones crackling on the roof and crashing through 
the windows, and sometimes wild men screaming 
through the key-holes."— Davjd Lloyd George, 



ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS 




NEW YORK 
THE CENTURY CO. 
1919 



.H3 



Copyright, 1919, by 
The Century Co. 



Published, October, 1919 



NOV 26 1919 



©CI.A535866 



TO 
RUTH 



. . , '' Yes, indeed, you may use anything and every- 
thing you have ever written for us/' 

Victor F. Lawson. 

Thank you, Mr. Lawson, for this, and for the many 
other unusual privileges that have come to me in the 
service of The Chicago Daily News. 

Harry Hansen. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTEK I PAGE 

1 am admitted to the Hotel de Crillon and visit the 
/ sacred precincts of the American mission to nego- 
tiate peace — I attend a consultation over the 
Fourteen Points, and learn something about their 
strange ailment 3 

CHAPTEK II 

The Place de la Concorde and the Quai d'Orsay on a 
^ sunny January morning — I become interested in 

the last word of kings and the balance of power . 19 

CHAPTER III 

^ Concerning the relative importance of a peace confer- 
ence and a foot-ball game, and how it feels to sur- 
vey the great of the earth through a doorway . . 32 

CHAPTER IV 

How President Wilson went across the seas with his 
formula for peace, and found that Europe had a 
few ideas on the same subject 48 

CHAPTER V 

M. Clemenceau becomes the victim of an assassin's bul- 
let, and proves that his physique is as strong as 
his will is firm 71 

CHAPTER VI 

. An invitation to tea lures me to the Hotel Lutetia, and 
V I learn how 40,000,000 human beings fare on the 

other side of the world 84 

ix 



X COISTTENTS 

CHAPTER VII PAGE 

A dip into President Wilson^s mail-bag and what I 
found there — Also throwing light on what hap- 
^ pened when the smaller nations heard of self-de- 
termination 101 

CHAPTER VIII 

How the Prince of the Hedjaz pitched his Arabian 
tent in the apartments of a Parisian hotel, and 
how he disconcerted the plans for a Jewish Pales- 
tine and a French Syria by his modest request for 
the empire of the calif ate 117 

CHAPTER IX 

The story of a little town called Fiume, and how the 
amazing unanimity with which all parties con- 
\^ cerned applied the Fourteen Points almost dis- 
rupted the Peace Conference 136 

CHAPTER X 

Conference days in Paris — Jottings from a note-book 

in the year of the great peace 180 

CHAPTER XI 

How Belgium set about to get a brand-new parchment 

for a tattered scrap of paper, and what came of it 194 

CHAPTER XII 

The eighth point wins a splendid victory, and then 
^ comes the Saar basin, and the whole fourteen suf- 
fer an eclipse 211 

CHAPTER XIII 

The President prepares a garden party at Principo, 
and the invited guests drag out the family skele- 
ton 239 



CONTENTS xi 



CHAPTER XIV 



PAOE 



Walks in the Paris of the conference, and how they led 

to haunts of another day 270 

CHAPTER XV 

" Nach Paris ! '^ said the Germans, and how they 
finally got there. Also showing that the German 
sometimes not only gets what he wants, but also 
what is coming to him 284 

CHAPTER XVI 

A pilgrimage to tiie Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, and 
how it recalls the founding of an empire forty- 
eight years ago 306 

CHAPTER XVII 

How Count von Brockdorff-Rantzau made use of his 
fifteen days, which were pretty dark, and his fif- 
teen nights, which were just as dark .... 323 

CHAPTER XVIII 

The story of the twenty-eighth of June, and how Ger- 
many found peace at the end of a long, long road 
in Versailles 345 

CHAPTER XIX 

President Wilson leaves France with two treaties of 
peace, and the United States Senate gets the stage 
at last 360 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

The American State Department in Paris . Frontispiece 

TACINO 
PAGE 

The American Mission to Negotiate Peace .... 24 

The Opening of the Peace Conference in Paris, Janu- 
ary 18, 1919 40 

The Commission on the League of Nations .... 52 

The Chinese Delegation to the Peace Conference . . 88 

The Japanese Delegation to the Peace Conference . 92 

Two Leaders of the British Delegation 112 

The Emir Feisal, Son of the King of the Hedjaz . . 128 

Four Leaders in the Negotiations on Fiume . . . 140 

The First American Troops to Enter Fiume . . . 160 

The First President of the United States in Paris . 224 

Ignace Paderewski 248 

The Two White Houses of Paris 272 

The Great Windows of the Palace at Versailles . ,312 

Germany's Representatives in Versailles .... 328 

Germany Signs the Treaty of Peace . . . . . 352 



xiii 



THE ADVENTURES OF THE 
FOURTEEN POINTS 



THE ADVENTURES OF THE 
FOURTEEN POINTS 

CHAPTER I 

I am admitted to the Hotel de Crillon and visit the sacred 
precincts of the American mission to negotiate peace — I attend 
a consultation over the Fourteen Points, and learn something about 
their strange ailment. 

The lad in khaki at the entrance to the Hotel de 
Crillon gave the revolving glass door a shove, and I per- 
colated inside. Straight ahead were the stairs and 
two elevators. I headed for the latter. 

^^Stop!" 

''Arretezf' 

" Just a moment, please ! " 

So there were three of them. Very well. I halted, 
and looked them over. One was a soldier in O. D. 
About his left sleeve he wore a broad band of blue on 
which was embroidered in white the scales of Justice 
surrounded by a garland. It was his badge of honor 
— the insignia of service at the Peace Conference. 
The second might have stepped off the floor at Field's 
or Lord & Taylor's. He wore a black cutaway, with 
a kerchief in the pocket, and striped trousers. The 
third was a French functionary pure and simple. "No 
need to describe him ; he was like the rest of that great 
tribe whose motto is ^' Stop ! Sit down ! Wait ! " 

" What do you want ? " asked the American floor- 
walker, 

3 



4 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

^^ I want to see the peace commission," I replied. 

" The American Mission to Negotiate Peace does n't 
see any one," began my interrogator; then he hesi- 
tated, looked me over, and added, ^^ unless — " You 
never can tell, was his thought. Paris is full of presi- 
dents, premiers, and princes of the blood in ^^ civies." 
This lanky fellow might be somebody — ^' Unless," he 
resumed, " you have an appointment." 

" I am a newspaper man," I said irrelevantly. 

The soldier fell back to his place beside the door. 
The floor-walker executed a half -circle, and then gazed 
dreamily through the large glass panel.. The French- 
man passed his arm quietly through mine. 

^'S'il vous plait," he remarked, and deftly piloted 
me into the carpeted and mirrored anteroom to the 
left of the door. 

'' S'il vous plait/' he repeated, and procured a slip 
of paper that was evidently to be filled out for the 
statistical section of the Census Bureau. It was printed 
in two languages, like this : 



Pass Paris 1919 

Permis No 

This pass entitles 

Ce permis est delivrd k 

Representing 

Repr^sentant 

To visit room 

Pour se rendre a la chambre 

And must be surrendered to guard at main entrance 

on leaving the building. 
Ce permis doit etre rendu au soldat de garde en 

quittant I'hotel 

OflBcer in charge of building. 
Officier responsable. 



THE FOUKTEEJST POINTS 5 

After all, it was elementary. It did not ask half 
so much as did the American passport office in Wash- 
ington, or the British bureau to retard Veil-meaning 
travelers at Southampton, or the French madhouse of 
statistical information at the prefecture of police in 
Paris. It did not ask for my mother's maiden name, 
my wife's birthday, or whether my neighbors kept 
chickens. It was getting easier every day to see the 
office boy of the tenth clerk of the fourth secretary. 
I filled it out. 

*' Asseyez vous, s'il vous plait/* said the French- 
man. 

I sat down. Numerous others were also sitting down. 
I could tell by the nonchalance with which they studied 
the hangings, the mirrors, the red carpet, the furniture, 
and lastly myself that they also were observing the 
magic formula, ^^ Wait ! " One man was inclined to 
stoutness. He wore a striped shirt with soft cuffs, a 
plain bow tie, a watch-chain across his chest, and an 
Elk emblem in his coat-lapel. Another wore a check 
suit, a white four-in-hand, and had long, grayish hair 
that curled up under the brim of his hat. Under his 
arm he held a packet of manuscript and the year-book of 
the American Board of Foreign Missions. A third man 
had a fair skin, a neatly curled Vandyke beard, silk 
gloves, and a red ribbon in his buttonhole. A fourth — 

But the Frenchman had returned. He handed me 
the slip. 

'"'^ Merci/* he said. '' Le premier Stage/* 

^' Thank you," I replied. My honest purpose must 
have shone forth in my countenance. The Triple Al- 



6 THE ADVENTURES OF 

liance liad approved me. I was admitted. I started 
briskly for the first floor. 

Here was the corridor leading to the rooms of the 
American mission. It was filled for the most part 
with rather young-looking Americans, men who aver- 
aged about thirty years of age. At a table near the 
head of the stairs sat several doughboys, evidently act- 
ing as orderlies; before the doors leading to the con- 
ference-room of the mission stood other orderlies. 
Potted palms looked sad and forlorn in great vases of 
glazed white porcelain. The walls were of grayish 
stone, the doors and woodwork were enameled white, 
and the door-panels contained mirrors. 

Presently the door would open to these men and to 
the world. That, at least, was my thought, for these 
were newspaper men and they were here to see and 
hear for the American public. They must be, I judged, 
men who had reached the pinnacle of their profession. 
What they wrote in the morning was carried by the 
cables to the American people at noon, and soon after 
the printing presses would be grinding out their stories 
and the newsboys would be hawking them in the streets. 
I walked over to a group. There was Paul Scott 
Mowrer. 

" Well, I 'm in,'^ I said. 

" Did you get your pass ? '' asked Mowrer. 

" What pass ? " I asked. 

" Your card of identification. You can't come here 
day after day without a card. Of course I can get 
you in to-day, but if you came alone, the detectives 
might not pass you. Go to the top floor of the adjoin- 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 7 

ing building, the Coislen. There you will find the 
photographers of the signal corps. They will photo- 
graph you. A day later you will get your card with 
your photograph from the major of infantry in the press 
bureau. Then on the card you will put your signa- 
ture." 

" And thumb-prints ? " I asked. 

'' Not yet," he replied. 

A buzzer sounded. 

"All right, gentlemen," said an orderly. The men 
turned toward the doors and slowly passed into the ante- 
chamber. At the door stood a dark-haired, slightly 
built man wearing a soft felt hat. He had bright, 
pleasing eyes, and as we passed, they rested for an 
instant on each face. Some one whispered that he was 
from the White House. He had a wonderful memory, 
they said, for faces. 

The newspaper men filed into the room, and stood 
about in groups talking and laughing. The members 
of the peace mission had not yet arrived, so that I had 
a minute, to look about me. We had entered an im- 
posing room, wide and high, well lighted by great dou- 
ble windows that opened out on the Place de la Con- 
corde and through which I could see the columns of 
the Chamber of Deputies and the lantern over Na- 
poleon's tomb in the Hotel des Invalides. A wide Per- 
sian rug, superimposed on a red velvet carpet, covered 
most of the floor. It was a typically French interior, 
with the walls done in white enamel on wood and mirrors 
used liberally, especially in the door-panels. But just 
like the Bourbon kings who gave this style of decora- 



8 THE ADVENTURES OF 

tion to the world, the architects had not been satisfied 
with simplicity; they had added heavy moldings, rich 
with gold-leaf, and had brought out in high relief on 
the ceiling strange figures and garlands and imple- 
ments of warfare. The eye was drawn at once to the 
wide gilded cornice that had four eagles at the angles 
of the room, with wings outstretched as if to hold up 
the very roof of the world. I would have considered 
them at least symbols of our republic amid all this 
imperial splendor, had I not reflected that the eagle is 
no homing pigeon; he has served with equanimity on 
the standards of the Eoman legions, the Napoleonic 
armies, the arms of Hohenzollern and Hapsburg, and 
yet he appears most contented on the great seal of our 
own republic across the seas. 

Of the men who filled the room many had names 
that were well known in the United States. There 
was Eay Stannard Baker, for instance, who was the 
officer of liaison between the American mission and the 
press and was perhaps closer in touch with the Presi- 
dent during the conference than any other man. Then 
there was William Allen White, with his rotund face 
wreathed in smiles, and Abraham Cahan, oracle of 
New York's great East Side, the center of an attentive 
group of young writers. Herbert Bayard Swope of the 
New York " World '' was lifting his voice high above 
the others in a good-natured effort to down Laurence 
Hills of the New York '^ Sun '' in argument ; and others 
gathered round about included Mark Sullivan of '^ Col- 
lier's," Arthur D. Howden Smith, who wrote " The 
Real Colonel House"; S. S. McClure, John Edwin 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 9 

Nevin, David Lawrence, Richard V. Oulahan, Lincoln 
Steifens, Simeon Strunsky, and Jay Hay den. There, 
too, I saw Edward Hood, Washington correspondent of 
the Associated Press, whom I learned to esteem more 
and more as the days went on for his quiet manner, his 
calm speech, his direct, and yet polite, interrogation, and 
for his unusual knowledge of American affairs, which 
went back as far as the Alabama case, one of his first 
assignments. 

A memorandum blank on a marble-topped table bore 
the title ^' The American Mission to Negotiate Peace." 
A bit meticulous, I reflected, and yet probably prompted 
by the circumstances. I wondered if the same formal 
style was observed one hundred and thirty-seven years 
ago by our first peace mission to Paris — by John Jay, 
John Adams, and plain, blunt old Benjamin Franklin. 

One of the big mirrored doors at the end of the 
room swung back, and the members of the American 
mission entered. First came Robert Lansing, secre- 
tary of state, well groomed, well poised, nodding in a 
friendly way, with the end of his mouth curled into a 
bit of a smile. Since 1892, when he became associate 
counsel in the Bering Sea arbitration matter, he had 
been in intimate touch with the foreign relations of the 
United States. Then came Henry White, a tall, solidly 
built man with white hair, who walked forward with a 
bit of stoop and peered sharply through his glasses. 
Colonel Edward M. House followed, a most unassuming 
man for the part he had played in American political 
life. Lastly came General Tasker H. Bliss, with the 
rugged features of an out-of-doors army man, wearing 



10 THE ADVEIS^TURES OF 

the uniform of his rank, with a badge of colored ribbon 
on his breast. General Bliss strode forward with the 
air of a busy man, sank into a comfortable leather chair, 
and began to examine a sheaf of papers as if no one else 
were in the room. 

Technically, of course, these men were not repre- 
sentatives of the United States Government at all, but 
the President of the United States, who alone was 
empowered to negotiate peace. It was said by his op- 
ponents that although the American mission had five 
members, it had in effect only one mind, and that this 
mind moved the other four as puppets tied to strings. 
No doubt the President was the dominating member, 
but it would have been unjust to say that these men 
were mere agents. It might have been better expressed 
by saying that the policy of the United States at the 
Peace Conference was directed by one man, and that 
the members of the American mission presented a united 
front under his leadership. 

That the President was thoroughly cognizant of his 
power to assume full responsibility for the United 
States in the peace negotiations is clear from the fol- 
lowing paragraph in his book, " Constitutional Govern- 
ment in the United States '' : 

"One of the greatest of the president's powers I have not 
spoken of at all: his control, which is very absolute, of the for- 
eign relations of the nation. The initiative in foreign affairs, 
which the president possesses without any restriction whatever, 
is virtually the power to control them absolutely. The president 
cannot conclude a treaty with a foreign power without the con- 
sent of the senate, but he may guide every step of diplomacy, 
and to guide diplomacy is to determine what treaties must be 



THE rOUETEEN POINTS 11 

made if the faith and prestige of the government are to be 
maintained. He need disclose no step of negotiation until it is 
complete and when in any critical matter it is completed the gov- 
ernment is virtually committed, whatever its disinclination, and 
the senate may feel itself committed also. 

These, then, were the men who were to make peace 
with Germany. On my way to Paris I had already be- 
come convinced that making peace was not likely to 
be so easy a matter as it seemed on November 11, 1918. 
Although I had regarded the basis of peace virtually 
settled with the adoption of the President's Fourteen 
Points by the Allies and by the Germans, I was to 
learn that somebody had sprinkled tacks plentifully on 
the road to be traversed by the peacemakers. And 
what opened my eyes more than anything else to the 
fact that the conference might not have smooth sail- 
ing was the interrogation of the American mission, 
which now took place. 

Secretary Lansing actually invited the deluge. He 
might have avoided it, poor man, but he did n't. He 
adopted an easy pose, with his legs slightly apart, and 
said: 

" Well, gentlemen, what can I do for you to-day ? " 

I think it was Herbert Bayard Swope who led the 
chase, — at least, he was well in the van, — and the 
first question was something like this : 

*^ Is it true that no one is to be admitted to the 
Peace Conference except the delegates and that all the 
work is to be done in secret ? " 

Secretary Lansing replied — 

At this moment a friend whispered in my ear. ^^ You 



12 THE ADVENTURES OF 

know, of course, that you cannot quote the secretary," he 
said. 

"Whynot?"Iasked. 

^' Impossible ; it ^s against the agreement," he said. 
" The mission meets the newspaper men only on condi- 
tion that its members are not to be quoted." 

^^ Then what are we here for ? " I asked. 

" Eor our guidance," he replied. 

So I am compelled to omit what the secretary said. 
But nobody was under any obligations not to quote the 
questions that were asked him. So I give herewith the 
questions, and leave the secretary's answers blank. 
Some day in the future, perhaps fifty years from now, 
the ban may be lifted, and the answers given to a wait- 
ing world. Who knows ? 

" Will nobody be admitted to the conference ? " 



" Won't the newspapers be admitted ? " 
a 

" Won't the public be admitted ? " 



" Who is responsible for this decision, the 
President ? " 



" Did n't the President tell Senator Borah that the 
treaty would be negotiated in public ? " 

" What has become of the point about ' open cove- 
nants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there 
shall be no private international understanding of any 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 13 

kind, but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and 
in public view ? ' " 

The secretary is a diplomat of the first order. His 
answers prove it. I made a mental note that the first 
of the Fourteen Points was limping badly. The George 
Washington seemed to have had a tempestuous voyage 
across. 

At that moment some one wanted to know whether 
it was true that President Wilson had agreed to let 
the British protect the freedom of the seas. It was 
said that Colonel House himself had fathered point two, 
which dealt with the freedom of the seas, and that at 
one time he held the view that the high seas should be 
free for all vessels, neutral or belligerent, during war, 
and that combats should be limited only to war-ships. 
The phraseology of this one of the Fourteen Points 
seemed to bear this out, for it began : " Absolute free- 
dom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial 
waters, alike in peace and in war." But there was this 
qualifying clause, ^^ except as the seas may be closed in 
whole or in part by international action for the enforce- 
ment of international covenants.'^ The President ap- 
peared to have had in mind action by the League of 
Nations. 

Secretary Lansing himself was on record with re- 
gard to the freedom of the seas. In communicating to 
Germany the decision of the Allies to make peace on 
the basis of the terms laid down in President Wilson's 
address to Congress of January 8, 1918, he said that 
" thej [the Allies] must point out, however^ that clause 



14 THE ADVENTURES OF 

two, relating to what is usually described as freedom 
of the seas, is open to various interpretations, some of 
which they could not accept. They must therefore re- 
serve to themselves complete freedom on this subject 
when they enter the Peace Conference." 

It appeared that none of the correspondents knew 
just what the President meant to submit to the Peace 
Conference on the subject of the freedom of the seas; 
and it also appeared that, whatever it was, the American 
mission was either not ready or not in a position to 
define it. The term " freedom of the seas," which had 
been loosely used by the Germans for anything that 
would hamper Great Britain's sea power, seemed to 
have undergone numerous attempts at definition; and 
now, on the eve of the peace, it appeared to mean, 
^^ Hands Off ! " At least that was the purport of what 
M. Clemenceau, Premier of France, said he had agreed 
to in a conversation with Mr. Lloyd George, Prime 
Minister of England, and before the Chamber of 
Deputies he related that he had repeated this conver- 
sation to the American President, who had replied: 
" I approve what you said to Mr. Lloyd George. What 
I have to submit to the Allied governments will change 
nothing in your replies to Mr. Lloyd George. Each 
one will retain his freedom." 

" By the way, Mr. Secretary," came a voice from 
another quarter, — the voice of a man who, strange to 
say, represented an American newspaper that had a 
German name, — " when is the American army going 
to evacuate Russia ? " 

At this there was a titter of amusement. I did n't 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 15 

know why at the time, but I was to learn later that the 
evacuation of Russian territory was one of the stock 
questions. It appeared that the evacuation of all Rus- 
sian territory also had been agreed to as one of the 
Fourteen Points, and that in view of landings of En- 
tente troops in Arkangel and Odessa the evacuation 
seemed to have become rather crab-like. Paris re- 
sounded with appeals for and against evacuation. 
There were members in the Chamber of Deputies who 
professed to receive reports from soviet Russia that 
everything was going well and that the Allied troops 
might better be withdrawn. There were other groups 
in Paris, both French and Russian, who were keeping 
the printing-presses busy turning out stories of the 
most horrible atrocities committed by the Bolsheviki, 
and who demanded that the Allies send a great army 
against soviet Russia at once. Meanwhile from across 
the seas echoed the speeches of senators and congress- 
men in Washington who wanted to know when the 
boys were coming home. 

It was clear that point six of the fourteen was some- 
what frost-bitten, though there was still time for the 
application of first-aid measures before the conference 
opened. Perhaps by then the points we had discussed 
and any of the rest that might be ailing would be able 
to sit up and take nourishment. I expressed my views 
to a friend. 

" If the conference does n't make peace on the basis 
of the Fourteen Points,'' I said, ^' what in the name of 
Talleyrand will it do ? " 

" Maybe it will fall back on the ten commandments," 



16 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

he said. ^' But whatever it does, it will put the 
rollers under the Germans. That 's what we 're here 
for." 

The meeting broke up at this moment, and the men 
prepared to pass out. We stopped for a moment to 
shake hands with Henry White, one of the members 
of the mission who found ample opportunity to make 
use of his powers of diplomacy in Paris. Mr. White 
was the oldest of the American commissioners, being 
sixty-eight, but at that only three years the senior of 
General Bliss. His long service had given him rich 
backgrounds and a wealth of information that now made 
him invaluable. He had been ambassador to Paris 
and Home and had filled American diplomatic posts in 
London, Vienna, Buenos Aires, and Valparaiso. Just 
as Louis XVI asked the representative of the United 
States in Paris to guard his personal interests when 
the French Revolution broke out, so Mr. White was 
one of those who had been called upon during the 
Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune to help 
represent the diplomatic interests of Prussia and to 
do kindly acts for France, and I recall the anecdotes 
of how he and the little staff at the American em- 
bassy of that day, in humble quarters and under- 
manned, as always, were besieged by the throngs of 
German citizens who had been caught in Paris by 
the war and who clamored for passports and papers 
giving them a safe conduct home. He was in Paris 
when France signed the ignominious preliminary 
peace at Versailles in 1871, at a time when he could 
hardly have suspected the part he was to play in an- 



THE FOUETEEN POINTS 17 

other peace at Versailles many years later. Mr. White 
had also represented America at the Algeciras Confer- 
ence, and this proved an advantage to-day, for it turned 
out that France asked a revision of the act of Algeciras 
at the Peace Conference, and this v^^as finally included 
in the terms -of peace. 

We passed out of the anteroom and into the corri- 
dors of the Crillon. We met old friends and made new 
ones. There was a buzz of talk on all sorts of topics; 
publicity, the Fourteen Points, what France wants, what 
Italy wants. Already the Peace Conference was tak- 
ing on the aspect of an American political convention. 
I felt that the other men, like myself, were having diffi- 
culty in '' orientation," that wonderful European word. 
At the foot of the stairs I met John T. McCutcheon. 

" We were there at the start and now we 're here at the 
finish," said Mr. McCutcheon. ^' Is n't it a wonderful 
time ? " 

Then we passed out of the Crillon and formed a little 
group under the dark stone arcades of the ancient man- 
sion. Some one was imparting more inside informa- 
tion. 

An American soldier approached. Unlike the 
doughboys in Paris, he wore the wide-brimmed felt 
hat that the boys at the front discarded for the over- 
seas cap. A big revolver hung loosely from his belt, 
and there was a blue band around his sleeve bearing 
the letters " M.P." He was the first military police- 
man I had seen in Paris. We looked at him curiously, 
and he looked back at us. Then he made a quick ges- 
ture. 



18 THE rOUKTEEN POINTS 

" Move on ! " lie said. " Don't stand around here ! '' 
No, this was not New York or Chicago, but Paris in 
the year of the great peace. 



CHAPTER II 

The Place de la Concorde and the Quai d'Orsay on a sunny 
January morning — I become interested in the last word of kings 
and the balance of power. 

Beyond the arcades of the Hotel de Crillon the Jan- 
uary sun was shining down on the broad pavements 
of the Place de la Concorde as if it were a morning in 
May. A big brown touring-car marked with the nu- 
merals of the American Army turned a semicircle and 
drew up before the hotel. A well-groomed man in the 
long blue ulster of the navy, with a wealth of gold 
braid on his cap, stepped briskly out and passed into 
the hotel, 

" Xot a bad pose," said a voice behind me, and I 
turned to see a photographer in the uniform of the 
Signal Corps folding up the tripod of a motion-picture 
camera. 

'' Who was that ? " I asked. 

" Grayson," he replied, " Eear-Admiral Grayson. 
Keeps a man busy watching for the gold braids nowa- 
days," he added. 

" Then you do this all the time ? " I asked. 

" Pretty often," he answered. ^^ You see, we have 
to get all the big boys for the government records. So 
I 'm working in Paris now. Was up at Coblenz last 
week and took a lot of army pictures. Come on out 

i9 



20 THE AX)VENTUKES OF 

to Vincennes some time and see the American plant. 
We 're with Path-ay Freres," he added. 

" Thanks,'^ I replied. 

A score or more motor-cars were parked in front of 
the Crillon like yachts in a harbor. One of them car- 
ried on its wind-shield a red card with four white stars, 
the insignia of an American general. Diminutive Paris 
taxicabs were hooting their way across the place. I 
picked my way carefully among them, and sought refuge 
on an " island." 

From their mighty seats the eight dowagers in stone 
who represented the great cities of France looked im- 
passively down on the place. Strasburg, decorated for 
well nigh half a century with mourning garlands, sat 
unadorned, now that she had been gathered back into 
the fold. Below them, almost wheel to wheel, were 
ranged hundreds of guns that once had been the pride 
of the house of Friedrich Krupp. At the first glance 
they seemed a most impressive proof of the victory of 
the Allied arms; then the eye tired of these rust-cov- 
ered breeches and shattered barrels, and the whole collec- 
tion looked more like a gigantic junk-pile. The obelisk 
had a cordon of heavy mortars and tall marine rifles; 
on every available spot stood broken 77's, the German 
imitation of the French 75's. Rolled back against the 
stone balustrades were cannon of all caliber, every 
conceivable kind of formidable weapon, including the 
tank Elfriede. Some of the guns still bore splotches of 
green and tan paint for camouflage, but most of them 
had accumulated a thick coating of rust, and their 
weight had caused the wheels to sink deep into the as- 



THE FOUETEEN POINTS 21 

phalt pavement. Boys were clambering over the heavier 
mortars, trying to operate the mechanism; a post-card- 
vender came forward with his twenty-five inevitable 
views of Paris. I walked carefully across the ylace to 
the obelisk that had come from Egypt in days when 
self-'determination was not yet heard of. 

Two doughboys on leave were minutely examining 
a tall marine rifle that had been cast in Essen. One 
of them wore the colors of the rainbow in the segment 
of a circle on his left shoulder, the insignia of the 42d 
Division. The other wore the mark of the 77th, the 
Statue of Liberty in white on a blue background. 

^' Looks as if they 'd fired that bird for the last 
time,'' said the first doughboy, '' but I guess it did 
enough damage in its day.'' 

'^ There 's some writing on the barrel," said the 
other ; '^ there 's a crown and a monogram." He scru- 
tinized it carefully. '^ W — II," that 's what it is. 
That must be for William the Second. And then 
there 's some more. ' U-l-t-i-m-a R-a-t-io E-e-g-u-m/ " 
he spelled out slowly. 

A visiting-car d-from the War Lord I ^' The last word 
of kings," the motto that Louis XIV caused to be en- 
graved upon his guns in the days when war was still 
the pastime of the autocrat. And here it was encount- 
ered again in Louis' old capital, but this time as a 
memento of the last king who had dared use this 
argument. It was pleasant to speculate that its pres- 
ence here proved that the word of the people had been 
of more weight than the last word of the king. It was, 
so to speak, the conclusive evidence of failure. 



22 THE ADVENTURES OF 

Truly to-day tlie Place de la Concorde was the very 
hub of the great wheel that encompassed all the activi- 
ties of the conference. It was a strange coincidence that 
this square, which had witnessed such remarkable 
scenes in an earlier convulsion of the peoples, should 
again be the center of a momentous event in the history 
not only of France, but of the whole world. Both the 
tragedies of 1792-93 and the deliberations of 1919 
had their place in the struggle of the peoples toward 
more democratic government, and none could say but 
that this Peace Conference might prove the more sig- 
nificant event of the two. Certainly it opened most 
auspiciously; surely both in Europe, in America, and 
in the more remote parts of the earth men who as- 
pired to a greater measure of liberty and freedom 
looked toward it with eager, longing eyes. 

It is easy to touch hands with the past. Here on 
January 21, 1793, Louis XVI gave up his life that the 
wrath of the people might be appeased. Close your 
eyes as you stand here and you can see the tumbrels 
ladeu. with the condemned coming slowly toward the 
'place. Those very buildings that are so distinctly a 
feature of the square, the hotels de Crillon and de 
Coislen, and the ministry of marine, dating from 1770, 
stood there then as they stand to-day, and the Greek 
fa§ade of the Madeleine looked down upon the tum- 
brels as they turned into the Rue Royale from the Rue 
St. Honore just as to-day it still completes the picture 
at the end of this street. Near this obelisk, too, was 
placed the guillotine. Those terraces and gardens to 
the east are the Tuileries Gardens, where the Bourbon 



THE FOUKTEEN POUSTTS 23 

princes played, and within their confines was the 
Manege, or riding-school, where met both the Constit- 
uent Assembly and the National Convention, and where 
the republic was proclaimed on September 21, 1792. 
There is not a street or by-path within a stone's throw 
of this place that cannot tell a tale of the Revolution 
or of the First Empire or of the Commune of 1871. 

And to-day the activity of the conference centers 
here. Follow the Eue de Rivoli, and it is but a step to 
the Hotel Continental, where the Prince of the Hedjaz 
lives with his suite ; to the Hotel Lotti, on the Rue 
Castiglione, where the Belgian delegation has its head- 
quarters ; to the Place Vendome, where the Hotel Bris- 
tol houses the Japanese delegation, while royalty stops 
down at the Ritz ; to the Meurice, headquarters of the 
single, solitary, and unrecognized envoy of Montenegro. 

The noble Avenue des Champs-Elysees stretches out 
to the west until it reaches the arch of triumph at the 
Place de I'Etoile. Great chains that hang across the 
front of the arch are still imbroken, waiting upon the 
men who have met here to fashion a treaty of peace, for 
not until peace is signed may the soldiers of France 
pass under the arch. This great avenue and its trib- 
utary streets also bear evidence of conference activities. 
Close at hand, not far from the Place de la Concorde, 
are the British embassy and the Elysee Palace, where 
lives the President of the French Republic. Just be- 
yond the Grand and Petit Palais is the Avenue Mon- 
taigne. The committee on public information has 
been occupying a house there, and a short distance be- 
yond, toward the Seine, is the Plaza Athenee hotel, 



24 THE ADVENTURES OF 

which is used by delegations from two distant lands, 
Brazil and Liberia. At No. 77 of the Avenue des 
Champs-Elysees is the headquarters of the Rumanian 
delegation; No. 80 is the luxurious Maison Dufayel, 
built by a picturesque Parisian nouveau-riche merchant 
for his home, and now leased by the Erench Govern- 
ment for the use of the newspaper men of the world as 
a club. The American Army occupies the Hotel des 
Champs-Elysees, and close by the arch is the Hotel As- 
toria, which, with the Hotel Majestic, constitutes the 
headquarters of the British delegation. Serbia and 
Portugal have found quarters on the Avenue de Eried- 
land, not far distant, and the Polish delegation is at 
11 Avenue Kleber. It is in this neighborhood, too, in 
an obscure hotel on a side street, where the rooms have 
iron beds and old, cast-off furniture, that the spokes- 
men for Armenia send forth their appeals for the inde- 
pendence of their martyred homeland. 

I left the Place de la Concorde and proceeded across 
the bridge over the Seine to the opposite bank. The 
river was high this month, the trees along its banks 
were in water half-way up their trunks, and the swift 
current rushed with a subdued roar under the arches. 
Stones of the Bastille are in those arches, which have 
withstood the ravages of the flood for well over one 
hundred years. Opposite the bridge is the Chamber 
of Deputies, where the government orators make re- 
sounding speeches to the deputies, obscuring rather than 
elucidating their policies. And this wide street is 
known the world over as the Quai d'Orsay, a name as 
familiar as Downing Street and Wilhelmstrasse ; for 



THE FOURTEEIT POINTS 25 

one block to the west, in the direction of the bridge of 
Alexander III, stands the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 
which gives the quai its significance. 

In the history of the conference this building will 
always take rank with the Palace of Versailles. Here 
the great Peace Conference of 1919 began; there it 
ended. Eor this is the seat of the plenary sessions and 
of the meetings of the council of ten, and within its walls 
gather many of the subsidiary commissions, as well as 
the cabinet of the French Eepublic. It is here also 
that M. Stephen Pichon, the adroit minister for foreign 
affairs, directs the external policies of the French Re- 
public — policies that have been the most direct and 
well defined of any of the Allies and have been ad- 
hered to with hardly a variation. 

In the course of the conference I came into close con- 
tact with M. Pichon. He was one of the most accessi- 
ble of men, and in his frequent meetings with corre- 
spondents I used to watch his clever manoeuvers to hide 
what he did not wish to disclose, and yet give the ap- 
pearance that he was -acting with perfect frankness. 
We used to meet him in his cabinet de travail^ close by 
the hall of the plenary sessions. You entered the room 
by a door that seemed set into a wall fully two feet 
thick — rather two doors that were connected by a 
mechanism and opened simultaneously — and when they 
closed upon you, not a sound reached you from the room 
without, nor were voices in M. Pichon's office audible 
outside. The room itself was decorated sumptuously. 
On its walls hung reproductions in tapestry of the 
Rubens series of paintings on the life of Maria de' 



26 THE ADVE:t^TURES OF 

Medici, works of priceless value. The room seemed to 
belong to an age when a Richelieu held in his hand the 
affairs of France. But M. Pichon was always the dem- 
ocrat. He never sought to impress, he rather depre- 
cated his knowledge of affairs. He described himself 
as a journalist; in France many men in political office 
have at one time or another written for, and even 
edited, a newspaper. At this time he was sixty-two 
years old and was filling the post of foreign minister 
for the fourth term. Like his chief, the president of 
the council, M. Clemenceau, he had long been associated 
with the public affairs of France, and it was an inter- 
esting fact, though not at all singular, that he was 
in Peking as the representative of the French Re- 
public when Germany laid the basis for obtaining her 
leasehold of Kiao-chau and her concessions in Shan- 
tung. 

These two men, M. Clemenceau, Premier of France 
— or, as the French call him, president of the council 
of ministers — and M. Pichon, minister of foreign af- 
fairs, had sounded the keynote of the French position 
at the Peace Conference just a few days before my ar- 
rival in Paris. As I looked over this building and 
thought of the history that was to be enacted there, my 
mind ran back to the significance of these two speeches 
in the Chamber of Deputies. I was in London on De- 
cember 30, when they were delivered, and I remembered 
that the newspapers quoted M. Clemenceau in big black 
type because he had dealt with the question of the 
freedom of the seas. Later, in Paris, Paul Scott Mow- 
rer, careful student of French affairs, directed my at- 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 27, 

tention to them again, and one evening at his home he 
went step by step over them and pointed out their un- 
usual significance. 

M. Pichon had spoken before M. Clemenceau, and be- 
cause he stated the French demands so clearly, I repeat 
them here in the order that he gave them. They, as 
much as anything, are a key to the whole French di- 
plomacy of the Peace Conference. He said : 

France accepts the idea of the Leag:ue of Nations. 

France asks no annexations, except for a rectification of the 
Lorraine frontier. [This was taken to mean the inclusion of the 
Saar basin in the French lines.] 

France asks the disarmament of all German military establish- 
ments on the left bank of the Rhine and for thirty kilometers east 
of the right bank. 

France asks full reparation for damages done, full satisfaction, 
and penalties for wrongs committed. 

France actively supports the new states of Poland, Czecho- 
slovakia, and Jugo Slavia, which she helped to revive. 

France opposes the union of German Austria with Germany. 

France declares Bulgaria shall give full satisfaction to Serbia, 
Greece, and Rumania. 

France asks recognition of her interests in Syria, Lebanon, 
Cilicia, Palestine, and Armenia. 

France asks a share of the German colonies. 

France asks that she be given a clear field in Morocco and that 
any hampering conditions of the act of Algeciras be removed. 

France supports the secret agreement with England of 1916. 

France supports the policy of anti-Bolshevist elements in Rus- 
sia, and has landed a division at Odessa and sent General Berthe- 
lot to reorganize the Rumanian Army. She will endeavor to help 
organize an offensive with purely Russian troops. 

France will support full publicity for all agreements reached 
by the Peace Conference. 

M. Clemenceau's address was even more significant. 
It was in reality an answer to an interpellation on the 
policy of the ministry. M. Franklin Bouillon, chair- 
man of the foreign affairs commission and leader of the 



28 THE ADVENTURES OF 

radical party, was one of the men who sought informa- 
tion on the Government's policies at the conference, 
and because the radical party controlled a majority 
of the votes in the chamber, his views had weight. 
Ernest Lafont, socialist leader, was the other speaker, 
and what he said dealt principally with Russia from 
the point of view of the Socialist party, which consid- 
ered the Government to be dealing with reactionaries. 
To these men M. Clemenceau said in substance : 

The question of peace is a terrible question, one of the most 
difficult which has been submitted to the nation. 

In a few days there will meet in Paris a conference of political 
men who are going to settle the fate of nations of all parts of the 
world. 

France is in a particularly difficult position. It is the country 
nearest Germany. 

America is far away and took time to come in. Great Britain 
responded immediately to the cill of Mr. Asquith. And during 
this time we toiled and suffered and fought. Our men were mown 
down, our towns and villages were destroyed. 

Every one agrees in saying that this must not begin again. 

France will accept from an international organization, regarding 
which, however, no light has been shed, additional guaranties for 
France, especially if they enable us to diminish the sacrifices in- 
curred by military preparations. 

There is an old system which seems to be condemned to-day, 
but to which I remain faithful at this moment. The nations are 
organiwng their defenses and are striving to have good frontiers 
and armaments and what is called the balance of power. 

The system seems now to be condemned; but if such a balance 
of power had preceded the war, if Great Britain, America, France, 
and Italy had agreed to say that whoever attacked one of them 
would be attacking the whole world, this atrocious war would not 
have taken place. 

This system of alliances, which I do not renounce, shall be my 
guiding thought at the conference if your confidence sends me to 
it, so that there can be no separation in peace of the four powers 
which have fought side by side. 

The balance of power ! 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 29 

The phrase appealed to me as a historical reference. 
It evoked images of bygone times. I called up a pic- 
ture of five men in velvet coats and knee-breeches and 
powdered wigs sitting with their heads close together 
in a little room near the palace of the Hofburg in 
Vienna, cutting up a map of the world with a pair of 
shears. They were the progenitors of the balance of 
power. I thought of another picture. It was that of 
an army of lithe, sinewy young men in khaki, march- 
ing forward with swinging gait and a song upon their 
lips. They were crusaders — crusaders against the 
evil that had been wrought by Europe's makeshift sys- 
tem of political readjustment. President Wilson had 
spoken of them in his scathing arraignment of the bal- 
ance of power at Manchester just a few days before : 

They fought to do away with an old order and to establish a 
new one, and the center and characteristic of the old order was 
that unstable thing which we used to call *' the balance of power," 
a thing in which the balance was determined by the sword which 
was thrown in on the one side or the other, a balance which was 
determined by the unstable equilibrium of competitive interests, a 
balance which was maintained by jealous watchfulness and an an- 
tagonism of interests which, though it was generally latent, was 
always deep-seated. The men who have fought in this war have 
been the men from the free nations who are determined that that 
sort of thing should end now and forever. It is interesting to me 
to observe how from every quarter, from every sort of mind, from 
every concert of counsel there comes the suggestion that there 
must now be not a balance of power, not one powerful group of 
nations set up against another, but a single overwhelming powerful 
group of nations who shall be the trustees of the peace of the 
world. 

That was the construction President Wilson placed 
upon the balance of power. And yet almost at the 
time that he was speaking in Manchester, Clemenceau, 



30 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

the " tiger " of France, had addressed the Chamber of 
Deputies in these memorable words : 

" There is an old system much decried nowadays but 
to which, I am not afraid to say, I still hold, and that 
is the system of the balance of power." 

All Paris was ringing with these words. At the 
Crillon, at the Astoria, at the French foreign office, 
and in all the numerous and complex bureaus that had 
sprung up like mushrooms in the night around the Peace 
Conference, men commented upon these two apparently 
antagonistic statements and speculated upon their im- 
port. Did they foreshadow a clash between the ideals 
of the 'New World and the practices of the Old ? Had 
the capitulation of Europe to the ideas expressed in 
President Wilson's Fourteen Points been made with 
mental reservations, and were the Fourteen Points to be- 
come an issue at the peace table ? President Wilson had 
proclaimed them on January 18, 1918, as the basis for 
making peace ; Great Britain had accepted them with a 
reservation and France had given her assent. Italy, 
too, adhered to them; and the other belligerents, and 
lastly Germany, had acquiesced in their terms. The 
last point declared that the nations of the earth must 
join in a league that must guarantee the peace of the 
world. Like an afterthought it had first been pub- 
lished to the world; but now, through the assiduous 
spreading of the gospel by the President both at home 
and in his speeches throughout the Allied countries, it 
had become one of the issues of the conference, and 
for weeks men had looked forward to this new system 
that should replace the old, 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 31 

" We have the right," said " Le Temps " on January 
1, " to found peace on something else than a hypothesis. 
Sureties are required." 

" Peace will not be real," said " La Liberte " at the 
same time, '^ if it does not give France tranquillity." 

Peace and tranquillity — those were the ends men 
sought, and to attain them they used many different 
means. What would be the outcome in Paris ? What 
would the nations of our own time agree upon to keep 
the peace of the world? 

I retraced my steps by the way I had come and 
reached again the Place de la Concorde. The big ma- 
rine gun arrested my attention. Like a great warning 
finger it seemed to point skyward. Would the world 
ever again have recourse to " the last word of kings " ? 



CHAPTER III 

Concerning the relative importance of a peace conference and a 
foot-ball game, and how it feels to survey the great of the earth 
through a doorway. 

A COMPANY of buglers was drawn up just inside the 
tall iron fence of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 
Behind them stood a guard of honor of blue-coated 
Poilus. A black limousine rolled through the open 
gates. It contained a man of smooth-shaven counte- 
nance, wearing a high silk hat, and two women. At the 
front of the car flew a small blue flag, with the Ameri- 
can eagle embroidered in white. The man alighted 
and walked up the steps of the ministry. The buglers 
put their instruments to their lips and blew a fan- 
fare. The Poilus stood at salute. 

A second limousine drew up, containing a man and 
a woman. The man had a slight, rotund figure, and 
wore a white Vandyke beard. Their car, too, flew a 
flag — the tricolor of France. Again the buglers blew ; 
again the Poilus came to a salute. From the crowd 
outside the iron fence rose a mild, polite cheer. 

The President of the United States and the Presi- 
dent of the French Eepublic had arrived, and the 
greatest peace conference in the history of the world 
was about to open. It was January 18, 1919. 

I stood outside the tall iron fence and looked not at 

32 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 33 

the notables as they alighted within the inclosure, but 
at the crowd that waited more or less respectfully before 
the gates. At most there could not have been more 
than five hundred persons, men and women, well at- 
tired, many probably business and professional men. 
Here and there American doughboys on leave leaned 
against the plane-trees and smoked cigarettes com- 
placently. American girls, wearing the long blue capes 
of the Y.M.C.A., walked by in pairs and stopped to 
scrutinize the building. A nurse girl pushed her per- 
ambulator up and down before the fence and peered 
interestedly inside as if wondering what was interfering 
with her afternoon's walk on the Quai d'Orsay. There 
were no demonstrations; there were no shouted com- 
mands to keep order; there were no lines of rope or 
files of gendarmes. 

I had sat in the rain with thirty thousand persons 
who became hysterical when one man kicked a foot- 
ball across an open field. I had waited with countless 
other thousands in the burning August sun while two 
aeroplanes performed simple evolutions overhead. I 
had witnessed one hundred thousand men on parade, 
and I had forgotten what event it was that called them 
forth. And I had come to this Peace Conference in 
Paris with the conviction that it was perhaps the most 
important gathering of influential men in one hundred 
years, that it would affect the fortune of hundreds of 
millions of white, black, and yellow men, and lay the 
foundations for the future development of half a world. 
No wonder that the crowd arrayed on the Quai d'Orsay 
this January afternoon disappointed me by its size, 



34 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

Yet the error in judgment was mine, and the public 
had followed only its natural impulse. Paris would go 
to the races at Longchamps by tens of thousands to 
share in the exhilaration of a contest, but because the 
plenary session offered nothing more than a glimpse of 
two score or more men in ulsters and top-hats alighting 
from automobiles, Paris remained at home, where it 
could debate the decisions of the conference at leisure. 
The mental reaction which the conference afforded 
Paris would get from its newspapers, from the speeches 
in public, and from the eventual ^^ big scene " — the 
signing of the treaty of peace. 

While I was standing outside the ministry Baukhage 
of the " Stars and Stripes " came up. 

" Going in ? " asked Baukhage. 

" I think I will," I replied. 

" I hear they are very strict about admitting any 
one," said Baukhage. " Have you a pass ? " 

" JSTothing but my card of identification," I replied. 

" Well, maybe I 've got a meal-ticket about me," said 
Baukhage. " Let 's try it." 

There are two formal entrances to the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs, one at each end of the f agade that faces 
the Seine. The entrance toward the west was for the 
delegates to the conference; the one to the east for the 
press. We took the latter door. The pleasant young 
man who had guarded the anteroom of the American 
mission at the Hotel de Crillon was there; he nodded, 
and we passed inside. 

Who should and who should not enter the sacrosanct 
quarters of the Peace Conference had been debated for 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 35 

several weeks before this session, and this despite the 
fact that the first of the Fourteen Points on which the 
Allies, the associated powers, and the enemy had agreed 
to sign the armistice declared imreservedly for ^' open 
covenants openly arrived at." When the conference 
was about to open and it was learned that the world 
would be shut out from the deliberations, there was a 
great wave of protest, but it seemed to have no effect 
on the leaders of the four great powers. The news- 
paper men immediately made publicity an issue of their 
own ; the Americans sent resolutions of protest to the 
President and to the American mission; the British 
placed their protests in the hands of Sir George Riddell 
for action ; Italian, Belgian, French, and Serbian news- 
paper men took exceptions to the rule. The result was 
an announcement by the chiefs of the conference that 
although the detailed work would have to be done in 
private, plenary sessions would be held from time to 
time, at which the larger results of the work would be 
acted upon and to which the press would be admitted. 
M. Clemenceau, who was pointed out as one of the prin- 
cipal opponents to publicity, made an explanation of his 
stand in the Chamber of Deputies the day before the 
opening session. He said that publicity for debates was 
generally favored, but that there was one point on which 
secrecy must be observed. It must not be said that the 
head of one government had put forward a proposal that 
was opposed by the head of another government. It 
was essential that the decisions of the conference as a 
whole should go forth as agreed upon unanimously, de- 
spite the ^^ friendly discussion " that might precede 



36 THE ADVENTURES OF 

them. It turned out later that even the leaders were 
unable to keep the world in ignorance. Delegates with 
a grievance were only too glad to give interviews and 
information anonymously in order to influence public 
opinion in their behalf, so that despite the alleged pre- 
cautions and the reports of secrecy, everything the con- 
ference did sooner or later saw the light of day. 

We passed through several rooms, and then into a 
long gallery which looked out upon the garden of the 
ministry through high double windows on one side, and 
on the other had three large doorways in which hung 
portieres of heavy, wine-colored damask. The room 
was already filled with men, and most of them, standing 
on chairs and tables, were trying to look through the 
three doorways into the room beyond, a hazardous feat 
not at all easy, and which led to much jostling and 
many expressions of disappointment and disgust. 
These men represented the world outside the Peace 
Conference; these three doorways were the windows 
through which they were to be permitted to view the 
august personages in session, and through which they 
were to be allowed to hear, if they could, the discourses 
that fell from the lips of the rulers. 

The hall beyond was the Salon de Vhorloge, the hall 
of the clock, a room of which the imperialists had been 
unusually proud in the reign of Louis Napoleon, but 
which went badly with the professed aims of a body of 
democratic leaders. The ministry was not an old 
building, — it had been erected in 1853, — but the Bour- 
bons at Versailles never perpetrated greater decorative 
banalities than those contained within this room, Tne 



THE FOUETEEN POINTS 37 

carpets and hangings were from Gobelin's; there was 
enough marble and white enamel and gold leaf to sat- 
isfy the average middle-class appetite for imperial trap- 
pings. On the large white marble mantel was the mar- 
ble clock which gave the room its name; above rose a 
statue of Liberty holding a torch, which bore the signa- 
ture, ^^ PoUett, I860.'' Amid these gorgeous surround- 
ings democracy had come to dictate peace. 

Through one of the doorways I watched the leaders 
as they took their seats: President Poincare at the 
head of the big U-shaped table ; President Wilson at his 
right, in the neat attire of the American business man ; 
on the other side of the President of France, Lloyd 
George, Balfour, and Bonar Law. The American mis- 
sion sat at the right of President Wilson, facing the 
assemblage, with the exception of Colonel House, who 
was absent through illness. Beyond the Americans, 
and at right angles to them, came the French delegates, 
M. Clemenceau, the most powerful member of the group, 
looking more like a bulldog than a tiger; M. Pichon; 
Marshal Foch, a man with a handsome, kindly face, and 
the firm lips of a great leader; M. Klotz, M. Tardieu, 
and M. Jules Cambon. Then came the representatives 
of Italy; Sonnino, Salvago-Raggi, Premier Orlando, 
Salandra, and Barzilai ; and corresponding to their posi- 
tion, on the other side of the hall, the representatives 
of the British dominions and the delegates from Japan, 
the latter including the Marquis Saionyi, Baron Makino, 
Viscount Chinda, M. Matsui, and M. Ijuin. These 
completed the major powers, for it had been decreed 
that Great Britain, the United States, France, Italy, 



38 THE ADVENTURES OF 

and Japan should have five delegates each, and the 
British dominions two each for Australia, Canada, 
South Africa, and India, and one for New Zealand. 
Long hours had been spent in the allocation of seats, 
and much importance was attached to them, and it might 
well be said that a nation could gage its own rank and 
position in the world by the treatment accorded its rep- 
resentatives at the conference. The result had not been 
accepted without protests, and I could well imagine that 
there were heart-burnings even now among many of 
the able statesmen who had come to Paris as repre- 
sentatives of nations not classed as major powers. 

Three seats each had been given to Belgium and Ser- 
bia for their martyrdom in the war, and to Brazil in 
recognition of its important place in South America. 
Two had been given China, Greece, the King of the 
Hedjaz, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Siam, Serbia and 
the Czecho-Slovak republic. One seat each had been 
given Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Liberia, Nic- 
aragua, and Panama. The five great powers were des- 
ignated ^' belligerent powers with general interests,'' 
which were entitled to take part in all sittings and com- 
missions. The others were called ^' belligerent powers 
with special interests," and were expected to take part 
only in sittings at which questions affecting them were 
•discussed. In addition one seat each was granted to 
Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, and Uruguay, which were called 
" powers in a state of diplomatic rupture with the en- 
emy," and also were expected to appear only at sittings 
which specially concerned them. 

There was definite objection to the allotment of some 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 39 

of the seats. Eor instance, the newly organized Jugo 
Slav kingdom, which professed to have incorporated 
Montenegro, was not recognized by the conference ; but 
Serbia was granted seats, and Montenegro was prom- 
ised one representative, who should take his place when 
the political situation in Montenegro had been cleared 
up. King Nicholas, who had been an exile in Paris for 
the greater part of the war, declared that the Serbs 
had taken advantage of his absence and occupied his 
country by force, and Italy sustained his contention. 
The Prench press inquired why seats had not been 
awarded to Morocco, Tunis, and Algeria, when the Brit- 
ish dominions were represented by nine delegates. The 
Russians in Paris were plainly nonplussed because they 
were not asked to act for the former Russian Empire ; 
but the heads of the British, American, French, and 
Italian delegations, who arranged the procedure of the 
conference, were not convinced that these men possessed 
a mandate from the Russian people. Despite this, the 
Russian embassy in Paris became the headquarters of 
a working committee of the three anti-Bolshevist gov- 
ernments represented here — that of Omsk, for which 
Prince Lvoff was the spokesman ; that of Ekaterinodar, 
for which M. Sazonoff, minister of foreign affairs under 
the czar, appeared ; and that of Archangel, represented 
by M. Tchaikovsky. Yet Russia was not represented 
in any of the negotiations leading up to the treaty of 
peace with Germany. 

One needed only to glance over this assembly of men 
to become impressed with the tremendous changes 
brought about by the upheaval of the World War. 



40 THE ADVENTURES OF 

There sat an American President, one of the dominat- 
ing factors of a European conference. For the first 
time, too, the self-governing dominions of the British 
Empire were represented, for the most part by their 
prime ministers, as Sir Robert Borden for Canada, 
W. M. Hughes for Australia, and W. F. Massey 
for New Zealand. The delegates from India, the 
Maharaja Ganga Singh and Sir S. P. Sinha lent a 
picturesque touch to the assembly by their colorful 
costumes. For the first time, too, Hedjaz, the Arabian 
kingdom ruled by Hussein, Sherif of Mecca, was rep- 
resented. Near by the quiet, self-possessed Mongolian 
delegates gave proof of the tremendous changes that 
had come about in the Orient, while the seat reserved 
for Liberia indicated that the black man, who had been 
recognized as a human being only after great argument 
at the Congress of Vienna, had gained admittance to the 
most august political body in the world in the course 
of one hundred years. 

When the conference was formally opened, it was al- 
most as if the board of directors of a corporation had 
agreed to sit down and talk of business affairs, there 
was so little ostentation about it all. The President of 
France rose, and read his address from manuscript, 
naming each of the states represented at the conference 
by name and speaking of the work that each had ac- 
complished in the war, giving special attention to the 
fact that " America, the daughter of Europe, crossed 
the ocean to wrest her mother from the humiliation of 
thraldom and to save civilization. . . . The interven- 
tion of the United States was something more, some- 



THE EOUBTEElSr P0I:N"TS 41 

thing greater, than a great political and military event. 
It was the supreme judgment passed at the bar of his- 
tory by the lofty conscience of a free people and their 
chief magistrate on the enormous responsibilities in- 
curred in the frightful conflict which was lacerating hu- 
manity." He spoke in a careful, concise Gallic sum- 
mary of the League of Nations that these men had deter- 
mined to establish : 

You do not intend this international association to be directed 
against anybody in future; it will not of set purpose shut out any- 
body: but, having been organized by the nations that have sacri- 
ficed themselves in defense of right, it would receive from them 
its statutes and fundamental rules; it will lay down conditions to 
which its present or future adherents will submit, and, as it is to 
have for its essential aim to prevent so far as possible the renewal 
of wars, it will, above all, seek to gain respect for the peace 
which you will have established, and will find it less diflScult to 
maintain in proportion as this peace will in itself imply greater 
realities of justice and safer guaranties of stability. 

But perhaps no sentence spoken by the French Pres- 
ident reached its mark so quickly as this: 

This very day, forty-eight years ago, on the eighteenth of 
January, 1871, the German Empire was proclaimed by an army 
of invasion in the Chateau at Versailles. It was consecrated by 
the theft of two French provinces. It was thus vitiated from its 
origin, and by the fault of its founders. Born in injustice, it has 
ended in opprobrium. You are assembled in order to repair the 
evil that it has done and to prevent a recurrence of it. You 
hold in your hands the future of the world. 

What happened then was another proof of the chang- 
ing world. President Poincare had spoken in French ; 
Lieutenant Mantoux now rose and read the president's 
speech in English. It came about later that men spoke 
also first in English and that their address was then 



42 THE ADVENTURES OF 

translated into French. A new language for diplomatic 
intercourse had won equal honors with that which was 
recognized as essential throughout centuries. 

When M. Poincare's speech had been read, the Presi- 
dent rose and the conference rose with him, and stood 
until he had left the hall. And then a quick, nervous 
little man slipped from his place among the French 
delegates to the chair that M. Poincare had just va- 
cated. He had bright little eyes that shifted now this 
way, now that; his head was bent forward as if to get 
closer to the object of his scrutiny, and the expression 
on his face led one to think that he had a remarkable 
witticism in reserve and meant to tell it at the first 
opportunity. It was M. Clemenceau, come to act as 
chairman while the Conference effected its organization. 

Both President Wilson and Mr. Lloyd George spoke 
extemporaneously on behalf of rdaking M. Clemenceau 
permanent chairman of the Conference, the former 
in his quiet, scholarly manner; the latter with a good 
deal of emphasis, and with a merry twinkle in his 
eyes, calling the premier " the grand young man of 
France," a phrase that proved a puzzle even for Lieu- 
tenant Mantoux when he came to translate it into 
French, for " le grand jeune homme de la France '* 
fails to convey the signification in French that this 
phrase has in English. When you looked at M. Clem- 
enceau you felt that he must be a very old man ; in fact, 
his old-fashioned, round white cuffs and his gray silk 
gloves seemed to put him back into the seventies and 
eighties of the last century, but When he laughed and 
nodded his head vigorously, you knew that he was ex- 



THE FOUKTEEN^ POINTS 43 

actly as young in mind and spirit as Mr. Lloyd George 
said he was. And after Baron Sonnino had seconded 
the nomination on behalf of Italy, M. Clemenceau rose 
and put the question, and, hearing no nays, made a 
short, rattling speech. In fact, it sounded a great deal 
as if a schoolmaster were admonishing his pupils, for he 
spoke in short, sharp sentences, flinging his phrases at 
his audience in a businesslike monotone, refusing to 
adopt the postures or the inflections of the conventional 
French orator. M. Clemenceau presided at the elec- 
tion of a vice-president for each of the five great powers, 
and announced the order of the day : first, responsibili- 
ties of the authors of the war; second, punishment of 
crimes committed during the war; and third, interna- 
tional legislation on the labor question. Were there 
any objections ? The chair hears none. Has any mem- 
ber a question to put to the chair ? We must be in ab- 
solute accord. No member must keep to himself any 
remark he may have to make. If no one asks for the 
floor, the session is closed. 

What was our impression of the conference as we 
looked through the three big doorways, as we jostled 
one another for places, and climbed about on the costly 
damask upholstery of the chairs with the gilded legs? 
That it was the performance of three men at the most, 
with two others in the background. As for the repre- 
sentatives of the smaller powers who sat inside the coun- 
cil chamber, they were, after all, spectators like our- 
selves, knowing as little of what was to come about as we 
who tried to interpret this meeting for the world. No 
one raised his voice in opposition to the program; no 



44 THE ADVENTURES OF 

one could have carried his point had he chosen to do so. 
That became patent at the next plenary session of the 
Peace Conference only a week later, on January 25, 
1919, when the great work of preparing the draft 
covenant for the League of Nations was formally entered 
upon. 

This second session had before it a motion for the 
creation of a committee on the League of Nations and a 
resolution which read as follows : 

The Conference having considered the proposals for the creation 
of a League of Nations, resolves that: 

(a) It is essential to the maintenance of the world settlement, 
which the associated nations are now met to establish, that a 
League of Nations be created to promote international cooperation 
to insure the fulfilment of accepted international obligations and 
to provide safeguards against war. 

(b) This League should be treated as an integral part of the 
general Treaty of Peace, and should be open to every civilized 
nation which can be relied on to promote its objects. 

(c) The members of the League should periodically meet in in- 
ternational conference and should have a permanent organization 
and secretariat to carry on *the business of the League in the in- 
tervals between the conference. 

The Conference therefore appoints a committee representative 
of the associated governments to work out the details of the con- 
stitution and functions of the League. 

M. Clemenceau declared the resolution to be before 
the conference. President Wilson made a speech. 
Mr. Lloyd George made a speech. Signor Orlando 
made a speech. M. Leon Bourgeois made a speech. 
The delegates who were not in the sacred circle of the 
^Ye great powers did what they were expected to do — 
listened. The exception was Mr. W. M. Hughes of 
Australia. He impressed one as being a man who be- 
lieved in getting all that was coming to him. And it 



THE FOUETEEN POINTS 45 

was not really what he said that made the five great 
powers look at him with curiosity, but the way he said 
it ; for his words were simply these : 

" I assume that we shall have an opportunity to dis- 
cuss the scheme when it is finished." 

^' Without any question/' replied M. Clemenceau 
in English. 

M. Hymans of Belgium likewise had something to 
say that was not on the " agenda/' as the conference 
called its order of business. M. Hymans asked for an 
explanation of the concluding paragraph of the resolu- 
tion. M. Clemenceau replied that it had been de- 
termined that the five great powers were to name two 
representatives each on the committee, and the other 
powers were to elect five representatives in common. 

^^ But/' objected M. Hymans, " that gives only five 
delegates to the nineteen powers that are conveniently 
called ' powers with special interests.' " And then he 
drove home his arguments ; 

'^ The only committee on which Belgium is ade- 
quately represented is the committee on reparation of 
damages. 

" Belgium should be represented on the committee 
on the League of N^ations because of her special inter- 
national situation and her historical and geographical 
position. 

^' Belgium should be represented on the committee 
on labor legislation because, before the war, Belgium 
was a very important industrial and commercial coun- 
try, ranking fifth or sixth in the list of industrial powers. 

" Belgium should be represented on the comraittee 



46 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

on ports, railways, and waterways because Antwerp 
is the first Allied port on the Continent, and the Bel- 
gian railways are important. 

" Belgium should be represented on the committee 
on crimes and responsibilities because some of the worst 
crimes were committed on Belgian soil. 

*' I appeal to the fair play of the conference and of 
the chairman." 

Evidently there were other nations that had objec- 
tions to make to the prearranged program. One after 
the other their representatives rose and asked for places 
on one or more of the committees. 

Senhor Calogeras spoke for Brazil ; M. Trumbitch for 
the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes; M. 
Venizelos for Greece; Senhor Garcia for Portugal; M. 
Benes for Czecho-Slovakia ; M. Bratiano for Rumania ; 
M. Lou Tseng Tsiang for China; M. Dmowski for 
Poland; and finally M. Bidadh Kosha for Siam. It 
was evident that the representatives of the five great 
powers had overlooked something. 

M. Clemenceau allowed each of the delegates from 
the " powers with special interests " to have his say. 
Then he rose to reply. 

There was no mystery, he said, about the fact that 
the delegates from the five great powers were meeting 
together by themselves. 

" The five great powers, I am obliged to say, are in 
a position to do so. At the time of the armistice they 
had together 12,000,000 men under arms on the battle- 
fields. Their dead can be counted by millions. 

"If the idea, that great idea of the society of nations, 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 47 

was not above the whole of our work here, it would 
have been possible for us, the five great powers, to con- 
sult only ourselves in the settlement. That would have 
been, after all, our right. Well, that has never been 
our thought. We have asked all the nations interested 
in the settlement to meet us here.'' 

M. Clemenceau said he favored small committees be- 
cause this expedited the work. He said that any power 
might be heard at any time, before any committee. 
But he wanted the great questions of the conference to 
come before the bureau of the five powers. 

^' And to give my reason frankly,'' said M. Clem- 
enceau, " it is because I could not, we would not, agree 
that any committee should have the right to dictate to 
the five great powers." 

That closed the incident. It was as if the minor 
powers had acted on the suggestion that ^' if you want 
to know who is boss around here, start something." 

The great powers had 12,000,000 men under arms 
when the armistice came, M. Clemenceau had said. 
The five great powers would not have needed to consult 
any one had they wished. " That would have been, 
after all, our right." 

Which was, of course, suflliciently clear to all. The 
basis of victory was force, and the basis of the negotia- 
tions was force. The place that each nation took in 
the conference was determined by its size, its influence, 
and its military strength. And when the truce with 
Germany was made permanent, it would again have to be 
the force mustered by the five great powers that would 
become the backbone of ^^ a just and lasting peace." 



CHAPTER IV 

How President Wilson went across the seas with his formula for 
peace, and found that Europe had a few ideas on the same subject. 

LoED RoBEET Cecil, K.C, ran his long, lean fingers 
up and down the seam of the green table-cloth and 
studied it intently. His figure, too, was long and lean, 
and when he spoke he bent forward as if to get close 
to his audience. He was facing a table arranged in 
the form of a hollow square; there were blotting-pads 
at regular intervals, and an incandescent-light globe 
swung down over each of the pads. Lord Robert's class 
on the League of Nations had transformed the finest 
salon of the Hotel Astoria into a school-room. 

" The Monroe Doctrine ? " Lord Robert was saying. 
" Well, now, the Monroe Doctrine cannot really be in- 
corporated into the constitution of the League of Na- 
tions. No, indeed. What will happen is this: when 
trouble breaks out on the Western Hemisphere, the 
league will naturally appoint the United States to take 
care of it, of course." 

" But will the constitution of the league specifically 
name the United States for this duty ? " asked one of the 
" pupils." 

^^ No, I do not think it will ; but of course no one 
would think of appointing any other nation than the 
United States to do that work." 

4^ 



THE F0URTEE:N^ points 49 

" And will the league interfere with immigration, 
Lord Robert ? " 

" Not at all. Immigration is an internal matter. 
The league will not interfere with any legislation on 
immigration that the United States sees fit to pass." 

This was a class in which the pupils did the asking 
and the schoolmaster did the explaining. 

" And will there be an international army and navy ? 
Or will the league be able to order any army and navy 
to fight ? Will the league be able to order the British 
Navy to fight ? " 

" The British Navy ? Of course not. I do not con- 
sider an international army and navy practical. Nor 
can the league order any army and navy to fight. The 
league will ask one of its members to apply force where 
it is needed. But that member directs its own army 
and navy." 

Lord Robert Cecil was the chief lecturer for the 
British Empire on the League of Nations. He dis- 
cussed its constitution, its membership, its powers, its 
possibilities. He described hypothetical cases and gave 
practical examples of its administration of world affairs. 
At the same time M. Andre Tardieu spoke early and 
often on the attitude of France. In formal interviews 
M. Leon Bourgeois outlined the absolute essentials for 
the organization of the league. At the Hotel Lutetia 
the American Peace Association issued bulletins and 
manifestos. Lieutenant-General J. C. Smuts had so 
many thoughts on the subject that he published them 
in pamphlet form. C. J. Hoherty, Canadian Minister 
of Justice, prepared a detailed memorandum, Oscay 



50 THE ADVENTUEES OF 

Straus spoke in glowing terms of a roseate future under 
the league. Norman Angell coached from the side 
lines. Paris was a veritable Chautauqua. 

But at the Villa Murat silence, and at the Hotel de 
Crillon only a whisper now and then from Colonel House 
— a disconcerting whisper. 

On November 4, 1918, seven days after Colonel House 
began his conferences with the Allied premiers in Paris 
on the subject of signing an armistice with Germany, 
the Allies formally accepted the principles of President 
Wilson as the basis for peace. America acclaimed them. 
All Europe was ostensibly in full accord. Germany 
agreed to them in her correspondence with the President, 
and in admitting her readiness to sign the terms of the 
armistice. And one of the fourteen principles of Presi- 
dent Wilson, the fourteenth, in fact, was this : 

A general association of nations must be formed under specific 
covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of po- 
litical independence and territorial integrity to great and small 
states alike. 

Almost like an after-thought it seemed to have been 
incorporated in the Fourteen Points. But it was not 
an after-thought. It had lingered for a long time in 
his mind. When on April 2, 1917, President Wilson 
asked Congress to declare war against Germany, when 
he said that the world must be made safe for democ- 
racy, he also declared : 

A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except 
by a partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic govern- 
ment could be trusted to keep faith within it or observe its 
covenants. It must be a league of honor, a partnership of 
opinion. Intrigue would eat its vitals away; the plottings of in- 



THE FOUKTEEN POUSTTS 61 

ner circles who could plan what they would and render account 
to no one would be a corruption seated at its heart. 

As time went on, the President elaborated upon his 
theme. On July 4, 1918, he said that one of the aims 
of the war was 

... the establishment of an organization of peace which shall 
make it certain that the combined power of free nations will check 
every invasion of right, and serve to make peace and justice 
the more secure by atfording a definite tribunal of opinion to which 
all must submit, and by which every international readjustment 
that cannot be amicably agreed upon by the peoples directly con- 
cerned shall be sanctioned. 

And as every one was agreed, the Peace Conference 
placed the League of Nations first in its order of busi- 
ness. It was inseparable, the President had said, from 
the treaty of peace itself. On January 25, 1919, the 
Peace Conference in plenary session voted the nomina- 
tion of a commission on the League of Nations, to be 
composed of fifteen members, two from each of the five 
great powers, and five from the powers with special in- 
terests. On January 27 the smaller powers chose Bel- 
gium, Brazil, China, Portugal, and Serbia to name 
one representative each on the commission, and on Feb- 
ruary 6 the conference leaders permitted Greece, Po- 
land, Rumania, and the Czecho-Slovak Republic each 
to name a member, on recommendation of the commis- 
sion itself. So that, when its organization was finally 
completed, the commission included these notable men: 
President Wilson and Colonel House for the United 
States ; Lord Robert Cecil and Lieutenant-General J. C. 
Smuts for the British Empire ; Leon Bourgeois and M. 
Larnaude for France; Premier Orlando and Senator 



52 THE ADVENTURES OF 

Scialoja for Italy ; Baron Makino and Viscount Chinda 
for Japan; Paul Ilymans for Belgium; Epitacio Pessoa 
for Brazil; V. K. Wellington Koo for China; J. Ba- 
talha-Reis for Portugal ; Milenko Vesnitcli for Serbia ; 
Eleutberios Venizelos for Greece ; Roman Dmowski for 
Poland; M. Diamandy for Rumania, and Karel Kra- 
marcz for Czecho-Slovakia. 

The most remarkable thing about the League of Na- 
tions was the unanimity with which the powers wel- 
comed the idea. They may have said quietly and with- 
out emotion that they were in favor of the Fourteen 
Points, but when it came to the fourteenth, they shouted 
their approval from the housetops. Their views were 
unanimous on another matter — that the German col- 
onies must not go back to Germany. 

This was in keeping with point five, which provided 
for '^ a free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial ad- 
justment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict ob- 
servance of the principle that in determining all such 
questions of sovereignty the interests of the populations 
concerned must have equal weight with the equitable 
claims of the government whose title is to be deter- 
mined.'^ 

It happened that just before the commission on the 
League of Nations got under way the representatives of 
the five great powers — the council of five — took up 
the subject of the disposition of the Geraian colonies 
in the far East, the Pacific, and Africa. President Wil- 
son thereupon suggested that they be " internation- 
alized," by which he meant that guardianship of the 
German colonies and the dependent lands of the Otto- 



1 



THE FOURTEEN POmTS 53 

man Empire should be vested in the League of Nations. 
The league might appoint other nations to administer 
these colonies, but the league would be the final au- 
thority, and the inhabitants of these lands were to 
have the right to develop unhampered. 

The suggestion had the effect of a bombshell. Dele- 
gates from several nations who had quietly contemplated 
raising their own flags on the German colonies, poured 
out of the hotels in a frenzy and began dashing madly 
up and down the Avenue des Champs-Elysees in taxi- 
cabs. European and other statesmen, who were wedded 
to the principles of democracy, began to talk about a 
betrayal of their interests. 

Japan demanded the possession of the Caroline Is- 
lands, including the Pelew and Mariana islands, a group 
east of the Philippines and north of New Guinea, be- 
tween five and ten degrees north latitude. Japan like- 
wise claimed the Marshall Islands, also known as Mi- 
cronesia, a group of thirty-three small islands between 
four and fifteen degrees north latitude. As early as 
1917 Japan had obtained the promises of her allies, 
Great Britain, Erance, Russia, and Italy, that they 
would support her claims upon the German islands 
north of the equator. 

Australia, through Mr. Hughes, its prime minister, 
asked for the extensive island possessions of Germany 
in New Guinea, including the Bismarck archipelago and 
the Solomon Islands, approximately 94,200 miles in 
extent. Mr. Hughes objected with great determina- 
tion to President Wilson's plan, even though the Presi- 
dent suggested that Australia be given a mandate for 



54 THE ADVENTURES OF 

these islands by the league. He directed attention to 
the fact that public opinion in Australia fully expected 
these possessions as Australia's share in the settlement. 
The acting prime minister, Watt, sent a cable message 
to Paris saying that this view was unanimous. 

The Union of South Africa wished to extend its ad- 
ministration over the contiguous German territory in 
German Southwest Africa, and German East Africa 
also was expected to come under British rule. General 
Botha, acting for the Union, was particularly opposed 
to the President's scheme, and spoke at length against 
it. 

France looked forward to extending its sovereignty 
over Kamerun and Togoland. Kamerun was occupied 
by French and British forces during the war, and an 
agreement was made with Britain whereby France ad- 
ministered five sixths of Kamerun, including the port 
of Duala, and the British held a strip adjoining Ni- 
geria, including the district of Chad. The two na- 
tions agreed that in the event the Allies took this col- 
ony from Germany, this administrative arrangement 
should become permanent. 

President Wilson wished the application of his prin- 
ciple to be general. Lieutenant-General J. C. Smuts, 
Minister of Defense for the Union of South Africa, had 
suggested a similar plan in a pamphlet published on 
January 10 in London, in which he took a stand against 
annexation of any territory of the Ottoman Empire, 
Russia, and Austria-Hungary, saying that if sover- 
eignty was changed in any part of their holdings, the 
lands should be administered by the powers under a 



THE rOUKTEElSr POmTS 65 

mandate from the league, loyally and justly, with a 
view of observing the right of the people to dispose of 
themselves, the form of government to be based on the 
consent of the governed. But General Smuts was not 
willing at first to apply this system to German holdings 
in Africa. 

Interest centered on the attitude of the delegation 
from Great Britain. At first its members supported 
the pretensions of the dominions, although they declared 
that they were willing to accept a mandate for German 
East Africa. On January 29 the British Imperial War 
Cabinet accepted the President's proposal despite the 
opposition from the dominions. The decision was far- 
reaching in its consequences. It made victory for 
President Wilson certain. It swung the dominions over 
to his idea. It compelled Japan to relinquish reluc- 
tantly her claims for territory and to support the man- 
datory principle. Within the next day all gave their 
adherence. Australia held out the longest, declaring 
that the possession of N'ew Guinea was necessary for 
strategic reasons. When the decision was announced, 
there were delegates who declared that it struck at the 
very foundations of the British Empire. On the other 
hand it was also said that Great Britain would be much 
more able to solve her difficulties in Asia Minor under 
the system of mandates than by annexation. 

When the council of five agreed upon the mandatory 
principle, they took the League of Nations out of the 
realm of fiction and made it a vital and necessary thing. 
The league now had its reason for existence. It had 
extensive territories to supervise, and the well-being 



56 THE ADVENTURES OE 

of millions of human beings, many of them n£>t yet 
far advanced in civilization, to watch over and protect 
from exploitation. The commission on the league 
might now go forward with the conviction that a real 
business organization must be effected. 

It is this commission which, sitting under the chair- 
manship of President Wilson, prepared the document 
that we now know as the covenant of the League of Na- 
tions. The covenant passed through two stages before 
it was incorporated in the treaty of peace. The first 
stage was from the time of the appointment of the com- 
mission until February 14, when it reported the first 
draft of the covenant to the Peace Conference in plenary 
session. During this time ten meetings were held. 
The task of receiving suggestions for a revision of the 
covenant was then taken up, and five more meetings 
were held. A committee of the commission gave two 
days to representatives of thirteen neutral states. The 
outcome was the revised draft of the covenant, which 
was presented on April 28 tp the Peace Conference, and 
adopted on motion of President Wilson. 

The neutral nations were heard by Lord Eobert Cecil, 
Colonel House, M. Bourgeois, M. Hymans, M. Vesnitch, 
and M. Venizelos. The states sending representatives 
were Argentine, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, the Nether- 
lands, Norway, Paraguay, Persia, Salvador, Spain, 
Sweden, Switzerland, and Venezuela. The discussions 
brought out some interesting points of view. Denmark 
proposed that armaments be limited as soon as possible, 
that the control of the limitation of armaments be as 
complete as possible, and that the manufacture of war 



THE rOURTEEiq' POINTS 5Y 

implements by private firms be prohibited. Switzer- 
land asked that its neutrality be conserved in the league. 
Denmark also proposed that no neutral state be expected 
to furnish military aid, and that its territory be invio- 
late. Lord Robert Cecil suggested that a neutral be ex- 
pected to join in restrictive economic measures, if neces- 
sary. Sweden insisted upon the right to armies of de- 
fense for small states even under the league. The meet- 
ings were important because they showed the interest of 
these nations in the league. 

The story of what took place in these meetings lays 
bare all the elements that control the progress or inspire 
the ambitions of nations. The commission met in a 
large room in the suite of Colonel House on the third 
floor of the Hotel de Crillon. The delegates came to- 
gether whenever they could get the time, morning, after- 
noon, or night, and there were several occasions when 
the President toiled until midnight on the league after 
a hard day with the council of four. The delegates 
spoke in French or English, as they pleased, and inter- 
preters translated their remarks as they went along, 
whispering the words to those who did not understand 
both languages. Every day the secretaries placed be- 
fore each delegate a memorandum telling exactly what 
progress had been made the day before. Amendments 
were submitted in advance, and were in the hands of 
every delegate before the discussion began. No de- 
tailed stenographic records were kept, and the President 
encouraged an informal flow of conversation, keeping it 
well within bounds. At one moment when the com- 
mission had entered upon a discussion of what might 



58 THE ADVENTURES OF 

happen far in the future the President remarked: 
" Gentlemen, I have no doubt that the next generation 
will be made up of men as intelligent as you or I, and I 
think we can trust the league to manage its own af- 
fairs." The drafting committee was composed of 
Messrs. Larnaude, Venizelos, Vesnitch, and Lord Rob- 
ert Cecil. The covenant was set up and printed by 
American soldiers attached to the mission, to whom 
President Wilson expressed his thanks in a graceful 
letter just before he sailed for the United States in 
Pebruary. 

There were days when it seemed as if the League of 
Nations would be nothing more than a resolution of good 
will between the nations. There were reports of stormy 
debates, of threats to leave the commission, of charges 
that the vital interests of nations were being trafficked 
away. Opponents of the league idea began to spring 
from all sorts of odd places, giving out interviews show- 
ing that the league was the impracticable dream of an 
idealist; either that, or the well-calculated scheme of 
the Anglo-American interests to checkmate the legiti- 
mate ambitions of all other nations and place the world 
in bondage. President Wilson was called by turns a 
crank, a dreamer, an obstructionist, a visionary, an 
idealist, and the greatest friend of mankind. The na- 
tions of the world were ready to enter into an agree- 
ment to keep the peace, but each wanted its own kind 
of agreement and its own brand of peace. 

It is safe to assert that without President Wilson there 
would have been no covenant of the League of Nations. 
Day in and day out he held steadfastly to his idea. 



THE FOUETEEN POINTS 59 

wiiich was that of a league as nearly remote from sel- 
fish aims as could be fashioned in an imperfect world. 
More and more marked, too, became the adherence of 
Mr. Lloyd George, Lord Robert Cecil, and the other 
members of the delegation from Great Britain. Critics 
of the President's motives found in this fact ample scope 
for biting invective. The shrewd Britons, they argued, 
recognized in the league an instrument to preserve the 
British Empire from external aggression and internal 
upheavals. The President, they said, had traded off the 
freedom of the seas for British help to build the league. 
And yet no one disputed the fact that the President had 
back of him the great body of public opinion not only 
of America, but of the European Allies. 

The American mission proved especially sensitive to 
suggestions and criticism that came from the United 
States. Several times its members told me that they 
would gladly cooperate with leaders of thought in 
America if the chasm caused by political considerations 
could be bridged. The remarks of William 11. Taft, 
Elihu Root, and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge were care- 
fully perused and studied. It was felt that political 
animus entered more sharply into the speeches of Sen- 
ator Philander C. Knox and other senators who used 
the league as an opportunity to attack the President. 
No doubt the President was much to blame for the gulf 
that separated him from the Senate, for he had greatly 
antagonized its members by making the league more a 
personal than a national matter. His habit of keeping 
his own counsel, of conferring with no one when he did 
not consider it necessary, and of making no compromises 



60 THE ADVENTURES OF 

with public opinion was at the bottom of much of the 
animus. It was not long, however, before other mem- 
bers of the mission were in personal touch by cable with 
leaders in America. 

It then happened that the United States, which had 
believed that all nations should make sacrifices to real- 
ize the great idea of the league, refused to compromise 
its own interests in view of the experimental character 
of the international body. The first stumbling-block 
was the Monroe Doctrine. It was patent that if the 
world peace was to be guaranteed by a central organiza- 
tion of all the powers, there would be no need for any 
one power to set aside any part of the world for its special 
field. America, which came to Europe and recognized 
that the oceans no longer effectively separated the con- 
tinents, could not tell Europe that the Western Hemis- 
phere was its ward. Obviously, if that could be done, 
Japan was entitled to set up a Monroe Doctrine for 
the far East, and Great Britain could assert the same 
guardianship over most of Africa. But the American 
people were not convinced that Europe had undergone 
a change of heart by the mere organization of the 
league, and although conceptions of the scope and ef- 
fectiveness of the Monroe Doctrine differed, there was 
something particularly vital to our national life in 
President Monroe's declaration that " the American con- 
tinents, by the free and independent condition which 
they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not 
to be considered as subjects for future colonization by 
any European power," and that any attempt to infringe 
on the independence of American governments would 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 61 

be viewed as " the manifestation of an unfriendly dis- 
position toward the United States." The American 
argument prevailed ; the President accepted the sugges- 
tion and placed it before the commission; Europe 
agreed because it could not afford to antagonize Amer- 
ica, and Japan assented likewise, and in the final draft 
of the league covenant was inserted Article XXI, which 
says that '^ nothing in this covenant shall be deemed 
to affect the validity of international engagements, such 
as treaties of arbitration or regional understandings 
like the Monroe Doctrine, for securing the maintenance 
of peace." 

Another American criticism was that the league 
might have to decide whether or not the immigration 
legislation of the United States was justified. The 
United States felt that the control of immigration was 
a sovereign right, no matter if it involved discrimina- 
tion against the people of other nations. This point 
also affected the wishes of Australia, and for the very 
same reason, for both the United States and Australia 
wished to limit the immigration of undesirable Asiatics, 
and this might well endanger international comity, par- 
ticularly in view of Japan's assertion that this branded 
the Japanese people as of an inferior race. Would 
this become a subject for international investigation? 
Again the President forced the issue, and a new para- 
graph in the covenant provided that ^^ if the dispute be- 
tween the parties is claimed by one of them, and is 
found by the council to arise out of a matter which 
by international law is solely within the domestic jur- 
isdiction of that party, the council shall so report, and 



62 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

shall make no recommendation as to its settlement." 
Withdrawal from the league was another American 
suggestion, and led to a provision that any member 
might withdraw after giving two years' notice, provided 
that it had fulfilled all of its obligations. The charge 
that the British were able to outvote all other nations 
in the council was met by the explicit provision that in 
the council each nation should have one representative 
and one vote, and that all decisions must be unanimous 
in both the council and the assembly, with the exception 
of votes on procedure. This was an improvement, but 
not yet satisfactory to all interests. Although it made 
the one vote of the United States equal to the six votes 
of the British Empire, the British group still had a veto 
power of six to our one. Besides, although Canada, 
Australia, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa 
were properly self-governing dominions, this was not 
true of India, which had its foreign affairs ruled from 
London. The term " British Empire " for one of the 
memberships in the league also was misleading, as it 
would appear to cover the dominions as well as Great 
Britain, thus giving them double representation. The 
British, however, felt that the time was near when Lon- 
don could no longer represent the dominions in foreign 
relations. The Peace Conference was the first instance 
of their becoming signatories to an international con- 
vention on their own behalf, and as Viscount Milner, 
secretary of state for the colonies, said, it marked the 
beginning of a new era in the history of the British 
Empire. 

Objection to having the United States obligated to ad- 



THE FOURTEE]^ POINTS 63 

minister the affairs of colonies in other continents when 
it was not willing to do so was met by the provision that 
mandataries shall be given to countries that are willing 
to accept them. A definition of justiciable questions 
was also added. Nearly all these suggestions came from 
Mr. Elihu Root and Mr. William H. Taft. The Amer- 
ican delegates, however, were unable to obtain a clause 
providing for compulsory arbitration, another of Mr. 
Root's points. 

American leaders also objected to having the military 
and naval forces of the United States placed at the dis- 
posal of the league, or of abrogating any of the sovereign 
rights of the United States over its armed forces and 
their disposition for national defense. There is, how- 
ever, no provision for ordering out any army and navy 
without the consent of the nation itself, and it is ex- 
pressly stated that the council shall '^ recommend " what 
effective military and naval force shall be contributed 
to protect the covenants of the league. 

There remains, however. Article X, against which 
much criticism has been directed because it provides 
that " the members of the League undertake to respect 
and preserve as against external aggression the terri- 
torial integrity and existing political independence of 
all members of the League." It was argued that the 
nations might be compelled to support a member in 
putting down the legitimate uprising of a subject peo- 
ple. The word " external," however, effectively indi- 
cates that aggression must come from without. At the 
same time it is believed that in practical operation 
the other machinery of the league, including investiga- 



64 THE ADVENTURES OF 

tion, arbitration, and hearings before the court of in- 
ternational justice will force a just consideration of 
all grievances arising out of misgovernment. It was 
the contention of President Wilson and the other fram- 
ers of the covenant that Article X must be read in con- 
nection with other articles which safeguard the liberty 
of action of members of the league. 

France, frankly and openly, visualized the League of 
Nations as an instrument of protection for France. 
The members of the French mission made that their 
sole aim. They became enthusiastically in favor of 
the league when they believed that it would build a 
wall against German aggression in the future; they 
grew gradually lukewarm when they felt that the safe- 
guards were insufficient. Over and over again France 
stated her case: secure boundaries, adequate military 
protection, instantaneous action against aggression. 

To bring this about, France, through Leon Bourgeois, 
submitted to the commission on the league two amend- 
ments. The first amendment (to Article VIII) read 
as follows : 



The high contracting parties being determined to interchange 
full and frank information as to the scale of armaments, their 
military and naval programs, and the conditions of such of their 
industries as are adaptable to warlike purposes, have appointed 
a committee for the purpose of ascertaining so far as possible the 
above information. 

The second amendment (to Article IX) read: 

A permanent organization shall be constituted for the purpose 
of considering and providing for naval and military measures to 
enforce the obligations arising from the high contracting parties 



THE FOUKTEE:^r POINTS 65 

under this covenant and of making it effective in cases of 
emergency. 

M. Bourgeois, who had devoted a great part of his 
life to projects for the maintenance of peace, and who 
had represented France at the peace conferences at The 
Hague, fought for these resolutions from the moment 
the commission began its work. He declared that the 
mere intention of the governments to give information 
to one another was not enough, that the ^' instrument 
of verification '' was lacking. Article IX read simply: 
" A permanent commission shall be constituted to ad- 
vise the council on the execution of the provisions of 
Articles I and VIII and on military and naval ques- 
tions generally." M. Bourgeois felt that means should 
be taken to make action effective without long debate. 
He contended that a system of ^' mutual control and 
mutual guarantees " of armaments gives offense to no 
one, when the system is universally applied. He in- 
dorsed the views of Mr. Elihu Boot on the mutual con- 
trol of armaments. " What is most important if we 
are to succeed is not to allow those who are willing to 
resist the league to have force in their hands. There- 
fore the most important point to us is the limitation 
of armaments." The objection to the first amendment 
is believed to have come principally from the British. 
The second amendment is the one that became known 
as the " international general staff " amendment. M. 
Bourgeois denied that it organized such a staff. 

The amendments were not adopted, to the great dis- 
appointment of M. Bourgeois and the French delegates, 
who thereupon turned to M. Clemenceau's favorite idea 



66 THE ADVENTURES OF 

that, after all, alliances are the best guaranties, and 
began helping France to form a defensive alliance with 
Great Britain and the United States, of which more 
will be said later. 

Another important amendment to the covenant, which 
also failed of acceptance, was presented by Baron Ma- 
kino on behalf of Japan. The presentation of this 
amendment is one of the important events of the Peace 
Conference — one which may well have far-reaching 
consequences in the future. It was meant by Japan 
to remove the implied stain of inferiority from the 
Mongolian people. It read: 

The equality of nations being a basic principle of the League 
of Nations, the high contracting parties agreed to accord, as 
soon as possible, to all aliens, nationals of states members of 
the League, equal and just treatment in every respect, making no 
distinction, either in law or in fact, on account of their race or 
nationality. 

It was common belief in conference circles that this 
amendment was meant by Japan to pave the way for 
diplomatic action against the United States and Aus- 
tralia to end discrimination against Japanese who de- 
sired to make their home in those countries. 

Baron Makino first presented this amendment to 
the commission on February 13, but it was not placed 
in the covenant in time for the plenary session on Feb- 
ruary 14. It was said in reply that the very presence 
of the Japanese at the conference proved that they were 
given equality of treatment. Baron Makino said that 
he would bring the subject up again. On April 11 he 
proposed the amendment to the commission. It re- 



THE rOUKTEEl^ POINTS 67 

ceived a majority of the votes cast, but President Wil- 
son ruled that unanimous consent was necessary, and 
that the amendment had therefore failed of adoption. 
At the plenary session on April 28 Baron Makino 
again repeated his effort, without success. The argu- 
ment of the Japanese representative was clearly and ex- 
cellently stated. He closed with these words : 

I feel it my duty to declare clearly on this occasion that the 
Japanese Government and people feel poignant regret at the fail- 
ure of the Commission to approve of their just demand for laying 
down a principle aiming at the adjustment of this long standing 
grievance, the demand that is based upon a deep-rooted national 
conviction. They will continue in their insistence for the adop- 
tion of this principle by the League in future. 

The defeat of this amendment may properly be laid 
at the door of the United States. Australia and New 
Zealand were strongly against it, but the United States 
might have forced its passage. It was a strange 
anomaly that the nation which typified democracy and 
liberty to most of the oppressed peoples of the earth was 
not able to countenance a clear statement of principles 
enunciated in its Declaration of Independence and in 
its Constitution. Practical considerations intervened. 
The Japanese amendment, even though Baron Makino 
said that '' the immediate realization of the ideal of 
equality was not proposed," was so ostensibly intended 
to lay the basis for what Americans would consider as 
interference in their right to regulate immigration that 
its adoption by the league proved inadvisable. More- 
over, the Japanese made no secret of their ultimate 
aim. As one of the men associated with the Japanese 
mission in Paris informed me; "It is not only that 



68 THE ADVENTURES OF 

we object to the fact that our working classes are 
barred from the United States. Our professional 
classes would like to go there. They comprise men of 
culture and training; lawyers, dentists, physicians, 
scientists, and technicians, who see no reason why they 
should be barred from the United States when that is 
a field where they could progress and be happy, and 
when America places no barrier in the way of Euro- 
peans who are no better than illiterates." 

Two interesting proposals were made at this time. 
One was that French should be the official language of 
the league. The other was that Brussels should be its 
seat. President Poincare of France proposed the first. 
He pointed to the fact that French has been the ac- 
cepted language of international intercourse and that 
the qualities of the language make it well fitted for docu- 
ments of a legal character. He said that French was 
the official language at the Congress of Vienna ; at the 
negotiations of 1871, when Germany was the victor; 
at the Congress of Berlin in 1878 ; at the Madrid con- 
ference on Morocco in 1880 ; at the Algeciras confer- 
ence and the two peace conferences of The Hague. The 
choice of the language was finally left to the league 
itself. 

The second proposal threw an unusual light on the 
attitude of European govennnents toward the league. 
The movement to win the league for Brussels began 
early in the year and led to the adoption of resolutions 
and the writing of numerous letters to Paris. Brussels 
decided that the Egmont Palace was most suitable for 
the league, and plans were discussed for its furnishing. 



THE rOUKTEE:^' POINTS 69 

Paul Hymans, Belgian Minister of Eoreign Affairs, on 
April 11, presented the request that Brussels be named. 
President Wilson objected strongly to this choice and 
felt called upon to give his reasons. He said that there 
could be no reconciliation between the peoples of Eu- 
rope if the woes of Belgium were to be shown to the 
Germans every time the league met. The league, which 
would include Germany as well as Belgium, could not 
meet in '^ a city which incarnates the enmity between 
the races — a city which has been wronged, but which 
makes reconciliation distant because of these wrongs." 
The two conceptions of the league — American and Eu- 
ropean — stood in sharp contrast. By a vote of twelve 
out of eighteen the proposal of M. Hymans was de- 
feated and Geneva was chosen. Great Britain in this 
instance, as in that of Japan's amendment, voted with 
the United States, and France voted with Belgium. 
The remarks of President Wilson led to a bitter attack 
on him in the Belgian and Parisian newspapers. 

The second draft of the covenant of the League of 
Nations was adopted at the plenary session of April 28 
and was then ready to be incorporated in the treaty 
of peace. Although many of the nations had made 
concessions to the points of view of others, all pledged 
their adherence to the league. Many of the conces- 
sions had been made to retain the good will of the 
American people, for without this all Europe knew that 
the league would fail. The covenant was now ready 
for the study of all the world, for the governments of 
most of the world would need to adopt it to make it 
effective. And that Europe would approve it was a 



YO THE FOURTEEN POIISFTS i 

. J 

foregone conclusion. The eyes of all the nations turned 
to the country from which this new charter of liberties 
had come. What would be the verdict of the American 
people ? 



CHAPTER V 

M. Clemenceau becomes the victim of an assassin's bullet, and 
proves that his physique is as strong as his will is firm. 

" This morning at 8 :45 o'clock," begins a French 
news report for February 19, in the year of the great 
peace, " just after he had entered his automobile and 
started for his bureau M. Clemenceau was . . . shot ! " 

Could any announcement have proved more electrical 
in its effect on the Peace Conference, Clemenceau, 
president of the council and minister of war, — " the 
tiger of France," they called him, — the man who had 
virtually exercised the powers of dictator since Novem- 
ber, 1917, when the French people called for his iron 
hand and his indomitable will — Clemenceau, the vic- 
tor, had been shot ! 

Truly the Peace Conference of Paris was fated to 
have its share of highly colored, dramatic incidents. 
. When word reached me the deed had only been com- 
mitted a few minutes before. The day was still young 
as days go in Paris. The diamond tradesmen on the 
Rue de la Paix were slowly winding up the great 
iron window shutters that they put down every night 
in expectation of riot or revolution. Clerks, stenog- 
raphers, and salesmen were still pouring out of the 
^' Metro " station at the Opera like a flood, and flowing 
out into the streets that radiate from the 'place like 
spokes of a wheel from the hub. Lieutenant Vallee 

71 



72 THE ADVENTURES OF 

Appel of the 109tli Infantry had just come in to tell 
me how rotten it feels to be transferred to the faculty 
of law of the A.E.F. university at Beaune when your 
division has been ordered to sail. Tough luck! And 
then a friendly Y.M.C.A. man rushed in breathlessly 
with the news. 

" Let 's go ! " I cried to Appel, and in a jiffy we bolted 
down the stairs and into our car, and at once the chauf- 
feur headed for the Ministry of War. Down the Boule- 
vard des Capucines, down the Rue Royale, across the 
Place de la Concorde we went at breakneck speed, with 
just time for a glance at Old Glory flying over there on 
the roof of the Crillon. And the flags on the ministry of 
marine were still at full staff. 

'^ Thank God ! '' I said to myself, " It 's not a mur- 
der — yet." Then I reflected that even if it was, the 
ministry might not yet have heard of it, nor could the 
news have reached these Parisians on the place, going so 
unostentatiously about their business. 

The Ministry of War occupies one of those old formal 
French homes that was long the domicile of men asso- 
ciated with the political fortunes of France. Built in 
1714, it still retains its ancient paved forecourt and its 
formal main entrance. Marshal Richelieu, grand- 
nephew of the famous cardinal, lived here once, as also 
did Lucien Bonaparte, and now it serves the state 
equally as well as it served the titled folk of other 
days. 

There were soldiers with bayonets fixed standing 
guard before their little toy-houses on each side of the 
great gate, and just within gold-braided attendants at- 



THE FOUETEEE" POINTS Y3 

tempted again to exercise their time-honored function 
of retarding the inquirer; but this time '^journalist" 
proved to be the password. A blue-coated official di- 
rected me not to the offices of M. Clemenceau in the 
ministry itself, but to a little one-story building in an 
adjoining court, just around the corner from the con- 
cierge's house. It was a little plaster structure, huddled 
close to its larger neighbor, with tiny windows, and 
overgrown with vines. The whole group was a sort 
of military storehouse, but the little house proved to be 
a bureau, and within I found half a dozen representa- 
tives of the newspapers of Paris seated around a long 
table. They were listening intently to the communica- 
tion being repeated to them by a man who stood at a 
telephone at one end of the room and emitted his in- 
formation in short, sharp barks. It was indeed true: 
Clemenceau had been shot. 

At 8 :45, yes. Had left his home in the Rue Frank- 
lin en route to the ministry. Entered his limousine, as 
always. The car turned the corner for the Eue Deles- 
sert. Here was a little raised " island '' in the center 
of the street. On it stood a man. The chauffeur ob- 
served him, passed on. The man raised his hand. He 
pointed a revolver at the car. He fired. Once. 
Twice. Running after the car, he fired point-blank 
again and again. Ten times, ten bullets. They 
lodged : seven in the tonneau ; three at the right side, 
where sat the president of the council. The car turned, 
sped back to the Rue Franklin. The premier dis- 
mounted. '' It is nothing," he said. '' It is nothing." 
The examination showed a bullet-wound in the right 



T4 THE ADVENTURES OF 

shoulder-blade, hit from behind; a flesh wound near 
the lung. 

There was not a sound in the room but the voice of 
the man who snapped out his remarks in short, broken 
phrases. Then came quiet, disturbed only by the sound 
of pencils moving across the white and yellow pads of 
paper. 

Clemenceau — " Pere de la Vidoire/' the victim of 
an assassin, and yet these men, Parisians and French- 
men, sat quiet and imperturbable at their work. 
The legend of the excitable Frenchman died there, 
if it had not already breathed its last in the 
war. 

The assassin was a lad of twenty-three, an immature 
youngster ; Emile- Jules-Henri Cottin, a worker in wood, 
member of a communist federation, and known to his 
intimates as " Mildou." He was a lad who listened 
intently and took seriously the whispered words of men 
who gathered of evenings in a communist club and spoke 
of the injustices in life, who advocated the abolition 
of all authority as the remedy for an imperfect dis- 
tribution of the world^s goods, and the destruction of 
the ruling element in much the same manner that a 
privileged class had been destroyed in France 120 years 
before. 

" I am a Frenchman, an anarchist," said Cottin. 

" ' The animal shoots well,' I thought when I first 
heard the bullets," M. Clemenceau explained to the 
President of the Republic, M. Poincare, twenty min- 
utes after the assault. " ^ He shoots too well,' I said 
when I found myself hit. And then I thought, ^ At 



THE FOUETEElSr POINTS 75 

least my enemies will no longer be able to say that I 
bave n't ballast in my bead — lead ballast ! ' " 

Tbe hatred of men who differ in political thinking 
from men in public office sometimes urges them to com- 
mit violence. They see misrule in all authority, in 
every ruler an oppressor. Too often the blood of po- 
litical leaders has flowed upon the soil of Erance. 
Within the memory of living men attempts have been 
made against the lives of men like M. Germain Casse, 
deputy of the Seine, who was attacked on December 9, 
1886, by the sculptor Baffler, who thought Casse had 
been unfaithful to his duty as a democratic deputy; 
Jules Ferry, who was attacked on December 10, 1887, 
in the Chamber of Deputies by Aubertin on the sup- 
position that Eerry was allied with Bismarck; Sadi 
Carnot, President of France, who died June 25, 1894, 
from a wound inflicted by the Italian anarchist Caserio. 
Presidents Felix Faure, Emile Loubet, and Fallieres, 
were all the objects of attacks that did not prove fatal, 
and finally Jean Jaures, the pacifist socialist leader, 
was shot to death on August 1, 1914, proving that 
neither conservative nor radical is spared. 

" The condition of the president of the council is 
satisfactory,'' said an official bulletin issued at the bed- 
side by the physicians, Tuffier, Gosset, and Laubry. 
The bullets of Cottin had not made a mortal wound. 

But what if they had ? Did France reckon with that 
contingency ? Was there a leader prepared to carry out 
the aims for national expansion that M. Clemenceau 
had advocated so well ? Was the delegation of the 
republic, moved and directed by M. Clemenceau, able to 



76 THE ADVENTUEES OF 

continue the far-reaching policy of its leader? Who 
would fight for France at the peace table with that bull- 
dog tenacity of his — the fight for a strong, independ- 
ent, fearless, and greater France, a France that should, 
progress without the threat of invasion hanging like a 
shadow over her national life ? 

All through his career he had fought with the hitting 
power of a Eoosevelt. He came to Paris from the 
Vendee in 1860, in the days of the glory of the Sec- 
ond Empire. His political life really began with the 
war in which the Prussian host first trampled upon the 
fields of France. He had visited the United States as 
a young man, taught school there, and translated John 
Stuart Mills^s " August Comte and Positivism," and 
married. Then he returned to France. He gained his 
first public office in 1870 as mayor of the Montmartre 
district of Paris. He supported Gambetta, and signed 
the famous protest of fidelity to Alsace-Lorraine when 
these provinces were torn from France. He was al- 
ways a patriot, he spoke always for the integrity of 
France. He tried to reconcile the government at Ver- 
sailles with the commune at Paris, and in 1871, as a 
radical member of the National Assembly from the De- 
partment of the Seine, he voted against the ignominious 
peace treaty. He served in the municipal council of 
Paris, and by 1875 had become its president. In 1876 
he became conspicuous by pleading for amnesty for 
the communards. He was courageous, he was brave, he 
was sincere. Strange that in these early days this man, 
now laid low by the bullet of an anarchist, had been 
the leader of the extreme Left in the chamber! But 



THE rOUKTEEE^ POINTS 77 

the Left of those days, radical though it was, was far 
removed from anarchy. 

When he reached the age of forty he was a power, 
and as he grew in years and experience ministries 
trembled when he mounted the tribune. Grevy, Jules 
Ferry, Ereycinet felt his tremendous hitting power. 
Boulanger rose and fell as Clemenceau gave and with- 
drew his confidence. Through it all he was a con- 
firmed supporter of the republic. Defeated eventually 
in 1893 for reelection to the chamber, principally be- 
cause of his opposition to an alliance with Russia, he 
decided to devote his whole time to journalism. 

Many of the great political leaders of France have 
spoken daily to a large public through a newspaper. 
Clemenceau reveled in his opportunity. It is signifi- 
cant to note that associated with him in his earliest 
ventures were Alexandre Millerand, whom he has just 
made Governor-General of Alsace-Lorraine ; Stephen 
Pichon, now minister of foreign affairs; and Georges 
Languerre. In 1880 he had founded his political 
daily, " La Justice." In 1900 he founded " Le Bloc '' 
as a weekly, and edited it until 1902. Again elected 
to the senate, he found himself able to work with the 
socialist radicals. In 1903 he took charge of 
" L'Aurore " and began the two great fights of his ca- 
reer, one for the revision of the sentence of Dreyfus, 
whom he believed innocent, and the other for the sep- 
aration of church and state in France. He succeeded 
in both. In 1905 he warned France of the German 
menace in Tangiers in a series of noteworthy articles. 
In 1906 he became minister of the interior. Taking 



78 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

the responsibility for quelling a strike of miners in the 
Department of Pas-de-Oalais, he showed his determina- 
tion by calling out the military and putting down dis- 
order by force. This act caused the enmity of the so- 
cialists. He was never again a radical leader. 

In 1907 he became president of the council, Premier 
of France. For two and a half years he served in this 
office, and one result was the growing cordiality between 
France and England, political enemies up to this time. 
Slowly they came together in that entente that was to 
prove the salvation of France when the great blow 
was struck in 1914. That it would come eventually M. 
Clemenceau saw as well as any one and better than 
most men. In 1912 he had already begun his fight 
for the law to enforce three years of military service, 
in order to give France a larger number of men ready 
for instant action when the hour struck. There were 
many who questioned the expediency of his plan, but 
none his motives. 

Long before 1914 he had laid down his portfolio. 
In May, 1913, he was an editor again, " a free lion," 
as he said once, publishing a daily newspaper entitled 
"L'Homme Libre,"— ^^ The Free Man." When the 
war came, he unlimbered his guns for victory. He de- 
manded that every inch of the frontier be guarded by a 
French bayonet. He pounded home the need of a com- 
prehensive program for the manufacture of munitions. 
One might have expected him, grown old in public 
service, to defend antiquated methods, to be a stickler 
for things as they were. On the contrary, he spoke 



THE rOUKTEE]N' POINTS 79 

for radical changes in military and civil organization. 
He sacrificed all to an end — victory. 

Not all that he wrote found favor with the heads of 
the Government. The censor's pencil eradicated much 
of his excellent argument. His newspaper appeared 
with large white spaces. Resourceful to the last, he 
turned the laugh on his critics by calling his journal 
" L'Homme Enchaine/'— " The Man Enchained." 
And when all the more moderate and temporizing lead- 
ers had failed and the discontent that followed the cam- 
paign of 1917 forced them out of office, the nation 
turned to M. Clemenceau, whose gifts had been only 
partly made use of as head of the commission of ex- 
ternal affairs. Again he became minister of war and 
president of the council. 

When he took office they asked him what policy he 
would pursue. Remember his answer in that memor- 
able November, 1917 ? 

" Je fais la guerre," he said. " I make war." 

It fell to him, redoubtable fighter, seventy-seven years 
old, not only to make war, but peace. The peace that 
Erance wins out of the negotiations is the peace of 
Clemenceau, the best possible peace from the point of 
view of a confirmed nationalist, a believer in the ma- 
terial growth of France, a diplomat of the old order, 
who demands security against aggression, strong bound- 
aries, reparation for damages, and who believes that no 
crime should go unpunished. In the discussions of the 
modern liberals who believe in the forgiveness of inter- 
national sins he takes no part; he has felt too deeply 



80 THE ADVENTURES OF 

the suffering of 1870 and 1914, and all the years of 
German browbeating that lie between. 

Paul Scott Mowrer once characterized the four great 
leaders of the Peace Conference in a sentence. Lloyd 
George, he said, represented the liberal imperialism of 
Great Britain; Orlando, the anxiety and uncertainty of 
Italy; Wilson, the idealism of America; and Clemen- 
ceau, the fear of France. The fear — and the hope. 

Those were anxious days in Paris. As the X-ray ex- 
amination proceeded, and the wounds of the premier 
were found to be a trifle more serious than the first 
bulletins had led the public to believe, Paris experienced 
a sensation that reminded many of those dark days in 
1917. At the Hotel de Crillon Americans who had 
watched the tactics of the aged leader spoke of the ef- 
fect his absence would have on the conference. To 
them he represented an antagonist of no mean talents, 
for he was fighting to gain a position of strategic ad- 
vantages for France. Americans disagreed to some ex- 
tent at least with his views on clear, explicit punish- 
ment of the enemy, and on his theory that Germany 
should be made to pay a sum to be determined from 
time to time in the future, as the amount of the damage 
and the assets of the German nation were more clearly 
visualized. America disagreed with his view that the 
armies of the Allies should be ready to come to the aid 
of France the moment an enemy appeared on the hori- 
zon. 'Not that America meant to deny aid to an an- 
cient friend, but because no one in Paris could pledge 
the American people to a future program that involved 
the making of war. All these were points of conflict 



THE rOUKTEEI^ POINTS 81 

between the American commissioners and M. Clemen- 
ceau, and yet they honored the man and expressed 
hope for his quick recovery, so that no other hands would 
need to take up the portfolio that he held. 

After his first visit to the home in the Rue Eranklin, 
Secretary Lansing said that the condition of M. Clemen- 
ceau was so favorable that important questions might 
easily be referred to him in the event his vote was 
needed. Besides, he gave his opinion that the work 
of the conference had been so well organized by M. 
Clemenceau and had progressed to such an advanced 
stage that most of it was in the hands of committees 
who could continue consideration of the problems be- 
fore them without interruption. M. Clemenceau had 
been a driving force, seeking to expedite the work. He 
himself declared after the shooting that he hoped it 
would act as a spur upon the other members of the 
conference, so that they might more quickly come to a 
settlement of all outstanding problems. 

Heads of states, members of the Conference, went 
out of their way to show their sympathy for the 
stricken leader. The American President spoke of 
his horror at the deed in a wireless message from the 
U. S. S. George Washington, then nearing New York. 
King Albert of Belgium, King George of England, King 
Alphonso of Spain, Sir Bobert Borden, prime minister 
of Canada, King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, and 
Pope Benedict were among the first to send messages of 
sympathy. The members of the American mission in 
Paris expressed their resentment at the deed, and added 
that '^ they rejoiced in his providential escape and con- 



82 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

gratulated the people of Erance that in the settlement 
of peace and in the rehabilitation of Erance they are 
to continue to receive the benefit of that valued pa- 
triotism and seasoned statesmanship which your excel- 
lency so strenuously and successfully exerted in their 
interest during the travail of war." 

Their hopes were to be fulfilled. Two weeks later 
M. Clemenceau had overcome the dangers of both 
hemorrhage and infection and was back at his post. As 
he breezed into the conference-room on the first day 
back, he met his old friend and diplomatic colleague of 
other days, Henry White of the American mission. 

" Well, young fellow," exclaimed Clemenceau, whack- 
ing the American representative heartily on the back 
with the flat of his hand, " have you got a bullet in your 
body?" 

It came about that Cottin was duly placed on trial 
and found guilty, and the verdict of the court was 
death. And a short time later Villain, who shot Jean 
Jaures, the famous socialist and pacifist, on the eve of 
the war in 1914, was acquitted. There was subject 
matter for socialist demonstrations! 

It is true that there were extenuating circumstances 
in the case of Villain which would have suggested clem- 
ency. He had been in prison four and one-half years. 
He was believed to be mentally deficient. But an ac- 
quittal had not been looked for. 

" How is it possible," commented the " Lanterne," 
" not to make this comparison which stupefies the peo- 
ple: Cottin for having put M. Clemenceau for three 



THE FOURTEEN POII^TS 83 

days on the sick list is sentenced to death ; Villain, who 
lodged a bullet in M. Jaiires' head, is absolved." 

A few weeks later M. Clemenceau addressed the 
court asking that the sentence of Cottin be mitigated. 
And it was done. A sentence of imprisonment for life 
replaced that of death. 



CHAPTER VI 

An invitation to tea lures me to the Hotel Lutetia, and I learn 
how 40,000,000 human beings fare on the other side of the world. 

Aftek all, it was only an innocent invitation to a tea- 
partj. It came unannounced, an engraved card in 
pleasing English script, saying that Mr. Lou Tseng 
Tsiang requested the pleasure of your company at tea 
on Tuesday, March 4, from 4 to 6 o'clock, and adding, 
in smaller letters at the lower right hand corner, 
^' Chinese delegation, Hotel Lutetia." 

What could it mean but a cup of fragrant tea and 
a pleasant chat with the scholarly alumni of American 
universities who represented in Paris the interests of 
the Chinese nation? And yet it might have been said 
that tea-parties are not without significance. There was 
that little event in Boston Harbor, for instance, which 
began with tea, and ended with another treaty of Ver- 
sailles. And Mr. Lou Tseng Tsiang, China's minister 
of foreign affairs, and his scholarly delegation were 
men entirely too valuable to their country, one must 
admit, to permit them to while away their time at tea- 
parties. The invitation suggested many possibilities. 

And so it came about that a goodly company gathered 
on the designated afternoon in the spacious parlors of 
Hotel Lutetia, on the Boulevard Easpail. Hardly a 
Parisian atmosphere this, for there were polished, self- 
effacing Chinese portiers at the doors, and Chinese 

84 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 85 

valets in livery in the corridors and in the anterooms. 
And in the salons we found those men who, if true 
inhred courtesy had won kingdoms, would long have 
ruled the world. Diplomats from the other side of the 
earth, immaculate in European afternoon attire; gen- 
erals of the armies of China in their attractive light- 
blue uniforms; admirals and officers of the Chinese 
navy — all were a study in correct deportment and 
bearing. 

The chroniclers who told of the gaiety of Vienna in 
1814 wrote much about the brilliant receptions, the 
colorful salons, the gay social life that went hand in 
hand with the gifts of cities and the theft of provinces. 
The peace-conference side of Paris had developed but 
little colorful social life so far, and no one had even 
pretended to settle the fates of kingdoms and empires 
at a luncheon at the Meurice or a formal dinner at the 
Ritz. But when the social side of the Paris conference 
comes to be mentioned in future, no one can well afford 
to pass by this modest function at the Lutetia. Some 
of those who '^ assisted,^' as the French say, will recall 
it for its unique combination of political and social dis- 
cussion; others will remember the wide tables that ex- 
tended along one entire side of an immense room, loaded 
down with confections sufficient for a regiment of hun- 
gry men — confections that in a Paris devoid of pas- 
tries and bonbons seemed like the cargo of Solomon's 
ships come from Tarshish. 

What it should be remembered for is that it was 
China's first formal plea to the world for release from 
the fetters that bound her national existence — a plea 



86 THE ADVENTURES OF 

that later was to play an important role in the proceed- 
ings of the conference. 

Stepping into the middle of the salon, Mr. Lou Tseng 
Tsiang, our host, clapped his hands and beamed upon 
the assembly. In that wide circle he beheld the faces 
of men who to-morrow would carry his words to the 
ends of the earth. He rose masterly to his opportunity. 
It was indeed charming, he said, that his guests had 
deigned to accept the invitation which went forth in 
his name to meet the Chinese delegation. He spoke 
of the friendly relations that existed between China and 
the nations represented here. He touched lightly on 
China's position at the Peace Conference, suggesting 
that perhaps her wants and needs were a sealed book to 
the nations who dwelt in the West. It was a most 
happy occasion for the delegates to acquaint their guests 
with the aims of China. Would they listen a few mo- 
ments until Mr. Chenting Thomas Wang could speak 
more in detail on these aims ? 

The minister bowed, and Mr. Wang, who has held 
the portfolio of agriculture and commerce, stepped for- 
ward, a quiet, self-possessed man, with well-defined 
Western traits, and with the key of Phi Beta Kappa at 
his watch-chain as ample evidence of where he got 
them. It was Mr. Wang, versed in the art of saying 
a great deal in a few words, who placed succinctly before 
us China's ^' case." 

What Mr. Wang told us covered the whole field of the 
Chinese question. It dealt not alone with the relations 
of China and Japan, which presumably was close to the 
heart of a Chinese diplomat, but touched on all the 



THE rOUKTEEK POIIJ^TS 87 

foreign influences in China. Mr. Wang introduced 
these subjects on the ground that the Chinese question 
was one of the few great problems that the Peace Con- 
ference must solve if it aimed to prevent or minimize 
the chances of war, and that, ^^ stripped of its minor 
features, the Chinese question may be said to center 
on the maintenance of the independence and integrity 
of China, which has been guaranteed in a series of con- 
ventions and agreements concluded severally by Great 
Britain, France, Eussia, and the United States with 
Japan." Because China was a peaceful state and not 
a war-making state, Mr. Wang said that it was, and 
still is, a prey to the kind of imperialism asserting it- 
self in territorial aggrandizement and in the creation 
of preferential rights, interests, and privileges in the 
great Chinese regions like Shan-tung, Manchuria, Mon- 
golia, Fu-kien, and elsewhere in the rich mineral areas 
of the Yang-tse valley. " The solution, therefore, of 
the Chinese question involves the liberation or re- 
dress of China from the burdens and conditions im- 
posed on her in the interests of an aggressive imperial- 
ism. . . . Within this category of burdens is included 
the system of imperialistic rights, interests, and priv- 
ileges which Germany established in the province of 
Shan-tung in 1898 as compensation for the death of 
two German missionaries." 

Shan-tung! Let us here leave Mr. Wang as he 
continues his discourse on the position of China during 
the war, and examine more in detail the claims that the 
Chinese delegation presented to the Peace Conference. 
For it may well be said that the arguments given to the 



88 „ THE ADVENTUEES OF 

world at this innocent little tea-party continue to be 
heard in all quarters of the globe, and that out of the 
presentation of China's claims and the conference ac- 
tion thereon has arisen a controversy that may easily 
be the prelude to a larger diplomatic struggle. 

Germany had long been on the lookout for a naval 
base on the Pacific coast when the killing of the two 
missionaries in the prefecture of Tsao-chow-fu, in Shan- 
tung, in November, 1897, gave her a pretext for forcing 
her demands on China. The convention of March 6, 
1898, signed by Li Hung Chang for China and by 
Baron von Heyting for Germany, gave the latter: (1) 
a zone of fifty kilometers around the bay of Kiao-chau 
for the passage of German troops and a lease of ninety- 
nine years on both sides of the entrance to the bay of 
Kiao-chau with certain islands; (2) the concession to 
construct two lines of railway in Shan-tung and to de- 
velop mining properties located within fifteen kilo- 
meters on each side of the railways, both railways and 
mining enterprise to be developed by Chino-German 
companies; (3) compelled the Chinese Government to 
agree to make the first offer to German manufacturers 
•and merchants whenever foreign assistance of whatever 
nature was needed in the province. This led to the 
building of the Tsing-tau Tsinan railway, 434 kilo- 
meters long, opened in June, 1904, and the Yang-tse 
and Tzechwan collieries and the Chinglingchen iron- 
mines. The mining interests were transferred to the 
railway corporation in February, 1913. On Decem- 
ber 31, 1913, China granted Germany the option to 
finance, construct, and supply materials for two lines 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 89 

of railway, one at Kaomi to a point on the Tientsin- 
Pukow line at HancLuan, and the other from Tsinan 
to a point on the Peking-Hankow line between Shunteh 
and Sinhsiang, and on June 10, 1914, Germany obtained 
a loan option on any westward extension of the Tsi-nan- 
Shunteh, the Chiefu-Wehsien and the Tsining-Kaifeng 
lines. In 1911 Germany relinquished the rights to 
mines on each side of the railway, retaining only those 
named heretofore. 

These concessions gave Germany a sphere of influ- 
ence with amazing possibilities of development. The 
Chinese looked on with grim foreboding and despair in 
their hearts. For Shan-tung represented both material 
and sentimental interests for the Chinese. It was the 
birthplace of Confucius. It possessed 38,347,000 in- 
habitants, entirely Chinese, limited to the resources of 
agriculture in a province of 35,976 square miles — a 
population almost as large as that of France in a terri- 
tory only one fourth as large. Tsing-tau was the best 
natural harbor in north China, and its natural outlet. 
Within the zone of the German railway concessions were 
two immense coal-fields and an iron-mine containing 
40,000,000 tons of high-grade ore. Three big bitu- 
minous coal-fields, with a reserve of at least 1,000,000,- 
000 tons, the only fields within economic distance of 
the Yang-tse iron-mines, were within the zone of the 
southern extension of the railroad. 

This sums up the tremendous value contained in the 
concessions wrested by Germany from China. It gave 
Germany a great sphere of interest similar to those 
acquired by the other European powers, for Russia had 



90 THE ADVENTUEES OF 

asserted her influence in northern Manchuria, Mon- 
golia, and the basin of the Hwoangho ; Great Britain was 
recognized as the predominant power in the valleys 
of the Yang-tse-Kiang and in the center of China, and 
Erance made her power felt near Hainan and Yuma in 
the south. To offset the German concessions at Kiao- 
chau, Russia took Port Arthur; England, Wei-hai-wei; 
and Erance, Kwang-chow-wan. 

China asked the Peace Conference for the direct res- 
titution of all the concessions held by Germany. But 
it happened that they were now in the hands of another 
nation — Japan, herself a belligerent and the chief ac- 
tor in the ousting of the Germans from the far East. 
Japan early in the war asked Germany to withdraw 
from China ^' in the interests of peace in the far East." 
As Germany failed to comply, Japan declared war 
on August 23, 1914, and began a land attack against 
Tsing-tau. A small number of English troops also 
took part. Tsing-tau was garrisoned by 5,250 Ger- 
man troops and Austrian reservists, and fell Novem- 
ber Y, 1914. The Chinese Government asserted that 
Chinese territory was crossed during this operation, 
and protested that this was a violation of Chinese 
neutrality. At the conference in Paris Chinese dele- 
gates informed me that China made an attempt early 
in August, 1914, to join the Allies in the war against 
German}^ and also to participate in the attack on Tsing- 
tau, but was advised not to do so, because this action 
would lead to ^' complications with a certain power." 
By reason of the defeat of Germany the territory was 
occupied by Japan and placed under military control. 



THE FOURTEEN POIKTS 91 

Now comes the transaction that has given rise to 
much controversy and which the Chinese placed before 
the Peace Conference as an act of wanton aggression. 
Japan presented to China the proposals for a treaty 
known as the twenty-one demands, which were handed 
direct to Yuan Shih Kai, the President of China, by 
the Japanese minister in Peking, Hioki, on January 18, 
1915. The first group of these demands dealt with the 
province of Shan-tung and virtually made the Japanese 
the successors to the German rights and concessions. 
The proposals brought about a series of notes and con- 
ferences, during which several modifications were per- 
mitted; but on May Y, 1915, Japan delivered an ulti- 
matum to China, demanding that they be accepted forth- 
with. The manner in which these demands were pre- 
sented has been described as grossly overbearing even 
by Japanese writers. China, however, was not in a 
position to reject the demands, and agreed to them on 
May 8, 1915. An attempt to sound out the European 
governments and the United States and get their sup- 
port had brought more or less non-committal replies, the 
United States alone informing both cabinets that it 
would not recognize any infringement of the policy of 
the open door in China. 

As the Peace Conference did not meet to consider the 
whole topic of the rights of foreign nations in China 
and how they were obtained, it is obvious that only that 
part of the twenty-one demands which deals with Shan- 
tung actually concerned the conference. The docu- 
ments presented to the Peace Conference show these to / 
be the following clauses : 



92 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

In the first group of the treaty we find a provision 
that " the Chinese Government engages to give full as- 
sent to all matters upon which the Japanese Govern- 
ment may hereafter agree with the German Govern- 
ment relating to the disposition of all rights, interests, 
and concessions which Germany, by virtue of treaties or 
otherwise, possesses in relation to the province of Shan- 
tung.'^ There follow stipulations that China will ap- 
proach Japanese capitalists for a loan " if Germany 
abandons the privilege of financing the Chiefou- 
Wehsien railway line,'' and that China agrees to open 
" suitable places in the province of Shan-tung as com- 
mercial ports." 

On the same day Japan agreed to restore to China 
the leased territory of Kiao-chau Bay in the following 
agreement : 

When, after the termination of the present war, the leased ter- 
ritory of Kiao-chau Bay is completely left to the free disposal 
of Japan, the Japanese Government will restore the said leased 
territory to China under the following conditions: 

1. The whole of Kiao-chau Bay to be opened as a commercial 
port. 

2. A concession under the exclusive jurisdiction of Japan to 
be established at a place designated by the Japanese Government. 

3. If the foreign powers desire it, an international concession 
may be established. 

4. As regards the disposal to be made of the buildings and 
properties of Germany and the conditions and procedure relating 
thereto, the Japanese Government and the Chinese Government 
shall arrange the matter by mutual agreement before the res- 
toration. 

Finally, on September 24, 1918, in an exchange of 
notes between Baron Goto, Japanese minister for for- 
eign affairs, and Tsung Hsiang Chang, Chinese minis- 



TEtE FOURTEEN POINTS 93 

ter at Tokio, the following engagements affecting Shan- 
tung were entered into: 

1. Japanese troops along the Kiao-chau-Tsinan railway, except 
a contingent of them to be stationed at Toinanfu, shall be with- 
drawn to Tsing-tau. 

2. The Chinese Government may organize a police force to 
undertake the policing of the Kiao-chau-Tsinan railway. 

3. The Kiao-chau-Tsinan railway is to provide a reasonable 
amount to defray the expense for the maintenance of the above- 
mentioned police force. 

4. Japanese are to be employed at the headquarters of the above- 
mentioned police force, at the principal railway stations, and at 
the police training school. 

5. Chinese citizens shall be employed by the Kiao-chau-Tsinan 
railway administration as part of its staff. 

6. The Kiao-chau-Tsinan railway, after its ownership is defi- 
nitely determined, is to be made a Chino-Japanese joint enterprise. 

7. The civil administration established by Japan and existing 
now is to be abolished. 

Japan having obtained the rights to the German prop- 
erties from China, thereupon asked her allies in the war 
— Great Britain, France, Eussia, and Italy — to sus- 
tain her in the possession of these properties when the 
subject came up at the Peace Conference. This the four 
allies agreed to do. The British ambassador at Tokio 
gave Japan the assurance that Great Britain would sup- 
port Japanese pretensions to Shan-tung and to the Ger- 
man islands north of the equator, in a note dated Feb- 
ruary 16,' 1917. The French ambassador gave the same 
assurance for his government on March 1, 1917. Eus- 
sia replied favorably on March 5, 1917, and Italy gave 
a verbal assurance on March 23, 1917. This action 
was only slightly different from that taken at the close 
of the Eusso-Japanese War. Eussia, like Germany, 
had leaseholds in China which Japan coveted, this time 



94 THE ADVENT UKES OF 

in the Liao-tung peninsula. By the Treaty of Ports- 
mouth, September 5, 1905, Eussia ceded her leases to 
Japan. China agreed to the transfer by a treaty 
signed December 22, 1905, which also gave other con- 
^ cessions. The Treaty of Portsmouth was recognized 
by the powers. In the matter of Shan-tung Japan 
reversed the process, getting China's consent first, and 
then Germany's consent by her signature of the treaty 
of peace. 

There was, however, this fundamental difference in 
the disposal of the leaseholds: Russia negotiated her 
peace with Japan, but Germany did not negotiate her 
peace with Japan. The terms regarding Shan-tung 
were forced on Germany by Japan, Great Britain, 
Prance, and the United States, sitting as a Peace Con- 
ference. Italy was not represented at this meeting, but 
was fully in accord. 

There was also this difference: At Portsmouth 
China interposed no objection to the transfer of the 
Liao-tung lease. At Paris China definitely opposed the 
transfer of the Shan-tung lease and concessions. 

This subject was taken up by the Council of Three, 
Signer Orlando being absent, on April 22. Japan 
demanded that the terms of her agreement with China 
be recognized by the Peace Conference as binding ; that 
is to say, when the question of disposing of Germany's 
property in Shan-tung came up, Japan presented a prior 
claim, together with the promises by Great Britain, 
Prance, and Italy that they would recognize this claim. 

There was nothing unusual or new in this action. 
Leaseholds change hands daily in business life, and the 



THE FOUKTEEIJT POINTS 95 

owner of the property is frequently coerced, by such 
gentle threats as obtain even in our business practices, 
to give his unwilling consent. But — 

The council heard Japan in the morning and China 
in the afternoon. China emphatically objected to the 
transfer. China said consent had been wrung from 
her under duress. She asked that the Peace Confer- 
ence disregard the treaty of May 8, 1915. 

Mr. Lloyd George and M. Clemenceau declared they 
meant to stand by their promises to Japan. They had 
deviated from these promises in the case of the Pacific 
islands north of the equator, but were not ready to do 
so in the case of Shan-tung, for a very good reason. 
Both Great Britain and France were in the same posi- 
tion as Japan. They had wrung great concessions out 
of China. They could not repudiate Japan's lease- 
holds without repudiating their own. 

Japan knew this. Japan also knew that she could 
throw the whole Peace Conference into confusion by 
either withdrawing or refusing to join the League of 
JSTations. Japan was virtually gaining nothing but 
manacles for her grasping hands by joining the league. 
But the league without Japan in it was unthinkable. 

This was the situation that confronted Woodrow Wil- 
son on April 22, 1919. 

China took the position that when she declared war 
with Germany she abrogated ^^ all treaties of whatever 
nature between China and Germany. On this ground 
China contended that the Shan-tung leaseholds reverted 
to herself. The fact that China had already agreed 
to their transfer to Japan does not appear to play any 



96 THE ADVENTURES OF 

part in the Chinese argument. Yet China did not 
formally denounce the treaty with Japan. She was 
not strong enough to denounce it because none of the 
Allies was ready to back her up by force if Japan used 
force. 

President Wilson faced a treaty that was valid in 
international practice, as valid as the Belgian treaty 
of neutrality which Germany violated and Great Brit- 
ain defended, and which, by the way, w^as originally 
forced on Bel^iunl. 

President Wilson had two courses open to him. They 
were: first, he could repudiate the China-Japanese 
treaty of 1915, and denounce Japan's practice. By 
doing so he would: (a) make an enemy of Japan; (b) 
denounce also Great Britain and France; (c) lose the 
League of Nations, and (d) probably see Japan occupy 
Shan-tung without regard for treaties or leaseholds, with 
the consent of Great Britain and France. The United 
States could then protest, but could save nothing for 
China unless she went to war alone. 

Second, he could acquiesce in the transfer of the 
leaseholds, hold Japan to her promises, and eventually, 
through the League of Nations so educate public opin- 
ion that it would be considered dishonorable and im- 
moral for a nation to hold leaseholds, privileges, and 
concessions gained under duress and against the will of 
the people concerned. This would (a) bind Japan be- 
fore the world, (b) save the face of Great Britain and 
France, (c) save the League of Nations, and (d) pre- 
vent an open rupture with Japan. 



THE FOUETEEN FOUNTS 97 

President Wilson, being a man of the highest typo of 
courage, chose the second course. 

After the Peace Conference had agreed to the trans- 
fer of the Shan-tung leaseholds, Japan consented to join 
what is known as the four-power consortium to furnish 
future loans to China. This is an agreement between 
Great Britain, Prance, the United States, and Japan 
that future loans to China shall not be made by any 
one power, but that all four shall share in the privilege 
of making the loan. This is believed to be the begin- 
ning of an important change in the administration of 
Chinese affairs, as it is understood that Japan has 
agreed to consider it binding on all loan privileges which 
were to come to her in Shan-tung as a result of the 
treaty. This method of making loans to China was 
advocated by the Government of the United States 
many months before the consortium was agreed to. It 
is a constructive, forward-looking step, which will help 
take China out of financial bondage to Japan. The 
consortium has been strongly opposed in Japan, and 
recently certain Japanese groups have declared them- 
selves for keeping Manchuria and Mongolia out of the 
zone of operation of the consortium. 

I have tried to present the question of Shan-tung 
impartially as it came before the Peace Conference. 
The whole subject, even in Paris, awakened the most 
extraordinary recriminations. The campaign of pub- 
licity for the Chinese case was so well handled that it 
won numerous friends even among the working classes 
of France^ who heretofore had received little informa- 



98 THE ADVENTURES OF 

tion on the subject. The government-controlled press of 
Paris had given only meager space to the Chinese argu- 
ments and had taken it for granted that Japan's de- 
mands V70uld be sustained. In the more liberal news- 
papers of England and America, however, the cause of 
China won vigorous adherents. Japan was pictured 
as a grasping power, gradually arrogating to herself 
great strips of Chinese territory, growing to dangerous 
proportions as the result of a war which enriched her 
in land and gold, while it left old Europe impoverished. 
Even among the delegations at the conference there wereF 
men who became cool and reserved in the presence of a| 
Japanese diplomat. The fact that Japan had become \ 
an adept at the land-grabbing methods which European 
countries had practised for centuries was resented most 
by those who unconsciously had been her tutors. 
I Despite the storm of abuse in the liberal press and 
/the wave of criticism that swept the United States, the 
j commissioners of Japan at the Hotel Bristol went about 
their business unmoved. Their deportment was a model 
of Old-World diplomacy. They knew the value of 
silence. On the rare occasions when they spoke it 
was in keeping with the best traditions of diplomacy. 
The day after the informal Chinese tea at the Hotel 
Lutetia, — the one that I described at the opening of 
this chapter, — the Marquis Saionyi, chief of the Jap- 
anese delegation at the conference, felt impelled to give 
his point of view. I recall the sensation I experienced 
when he gave it — a feeling that this man knew exactly 
what he was going to get out of the Peace Conference. 
From that moment I no longer doubted that Japan's 

i 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 99 

claims would be fullj sustained, and yet all he said was 
this: 

Japan adheres with full sympathy to the great project of es- 
tablishing peace upon just, impartial, and solid foundations. We 
envisage this question not so much from the point of view of 
the entire world, as from that of the far East, where we have 
been obliged to assure the maintenance of peace by arms on 
three occasions in the last half-century. We are happy that 
humanity is able to perceive the first rays, rather feeble as yet, 
of the new era in which right will definitely prevail against force. 

I have the firm conviction that China will understand our just 
and legitimate aspirations and that she will join completely with 
Japan for the maintenance of peace and general security and for 
the progress of civilization in the far East. The foundation of 
the League of Nations will help essentially to dissipate the current 
prejudices of men relative to their true interest. 

When the decision in the case of Shan-tung was made 
public, the Council of Four — or, rather, three, for it 
was attended at this time only by M. Clemenceau, Mr. 
Lloyd George, and President Wilson, in the absence of 
Signor Orlando of Italy — was roundly excoriated in 
the liberal press, and President Wilson was charged 
even in his own country with betraying the interests of 
democracy. The Chinese delegation published an able 
and well-written protest in which it declared that the 
council " has been bestowing upon Japan the rights not 
of Germany, but of China ; not of the common enemy, 
but of a weaker ally." And the delegates pointed to 
the fact that Japan's new rights jeopardized the safety 
of Peking, '^ which becomes an enclave in the midst of 
Japanese influence." The delegation again said that 
when China declared war all German rights were con- 
sidered abrogated and that all territory therefore re- 
verted to China, a claim, however, which was made after 



100 THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 

the rights in Shan-tung already had been signed away. 

In China itself the news resulted in demonstrations 
against the Japanese and a boycott against Japanese 
merchants, which the Chinese Government would have 
been powerless to stop had it wished. Colleges closed, 
and street disturbances took place in cities like Canton 
and Tsientsin. An attempt was made to instruct the 
Chinese delegation at Paris to sign the treaty of peace 
with a reservation objecting to the decision affecting 
China. It was said that this view was advocated by a 
number of the delegates from other nations, and that 
even two of the three who made the decision at one time 
thought this might be a proper parliamentary manoeuver. 
At the height of the storm the President of China, Hsu 
Shih Chang, attempted to resign, and it was reported 
from the Orient that he had refused longer to take 
orders from the military party, which leaned toward 
the Japanese and was endeavoring to stop demonstra- 
tions against the treaty of peace. The resignation, how- 
ever, was not accepted, but the Chinese delegates in 
Paris refused to sign the treaty of peace without reser- 
vation and the Council would not permit signature with 
a reservation. 

That is the story of a picturesque controversy at the 
Peace Conference, which opened with a tea and, as in 
the case of the tea thrown into Boston Harbor, may 
yet end with another treaty of peace. 



CHAPTER VII 

A dip into President Wilson's mail-bag and what I found there 
— Also throwing light on what happened when the smaller nations 
heard of self-determination. 

" Excuse me/' said a voice at my elbow one morning 
just when I had become engrossed in the ^^ Matin's " 
argument that France could accept not a cent less than 
320,000,000,000 francs from Germany — " Excuse me, 
but have you seen O'Kelly ? " 

I looked up, and beheld the glowing, smiling face 
of Van Steen, friend of oppressed nationalities, special 
advocate for small nations. You have heard of the 
tracer of lost persons. Van Steen was a tracer of lost 
causes. At least he seemed to find it a pleasure to 
plead for a good many unpromising ones. Unknown to 
fame was his name, obscure even, although the heads of 
states and members of delegations at the conference 
read it at the bottom of numerous letters that cluttered 
up their mail — read it, and straightway forgot it. 
Eor Van Steen was one of that great body of men who 
hovered about the tag ends of the conference. There 
were, in fact, three distinct groups : first, the inner cir- 
cle of delegates from recognized states; second, the 
great body of assistants and experts who helped the con- 
ference machinery to revolve ; and third, the fringe of 
hangers-on. In America the fringe would be called the 
lobby. Van Steen belonged to the lobby. 

'' Good morning," he said, and then repeated his in- 
quiry, " Have you seen O'Kelly ? " 

101 



102 THE ADVENTURES OE 

Of course he meant the redoubtable emissary of 
Eamon de Valera, " president of the republic of Ire- 
land," who, true to Gaelic tradition, spelled his name, 
" O'Ceallaigh." I confessed that I had not seen him. 

" O^Ceallaigh is in town," said Van Steen. '^ I am 
trying to find him. I have a grievance to register. 
Have you read in the ' Times ' how certain Irishmen 
are desecrating the memorials of Englishmen who 
fought in the Boer War ? " 

I had not read the articles. Van Steen turned to a 
large, bulging portfolio that he always carried — a port- 
folio that had once been black, but now looked rather 
gray and worn about the edges. He delved for a mo- 
ment within its dark recesses and brought out a book- 
let of his own making, which contained clippings from 
the " Times," neatly arranged in the order of their 
publication. 

^^ The Irish who are petitioning this conference for 
recognition of their republic," said Van Steen, '^ have 
been perpetrating outrages on memorials to English- 
men who fought in the Boer War. Now I want to ask 
O'Ceallaigh to tell them to stop it. It 's wrong." 

'' No doubt about that," I said. " But to what shall 
I ascribe this sympathy of yours for British memo- 
rials ? " 

" I am interested in the cause of Boer independ- 
ence," said Van Steen, with a chuckle that apparently 
had nothing to do with his statement. ^^ When the 
Irish attack Boer War memorials, the British get the 
impression that the Boers and the Irish are fighting 
together, and they begin to see visions of the disinte- 



THE FOUETEElSr POmTS 103 

gration of the empire. But it is not true. The Irish 
Sinn Fein party has declared for a republic. The Na- 
tionalist party of South Africa has declared its read- 
iness to appoint delegates to visit England and confer 
with the king on the subject of independence." 

" Then there is actually a movement for independ- 
ence in South Africa ? " 

" Most assuredly, yes/' replied Van Steen. " In 
fact, it is my hope that the people of the South African 
Republic and the Orange Eree State, who lost their 
independence in a war that the world condemned, but 
did nothing to stop, in time may come back into their 
own by grace of President Wilson's statement to Con- 
gress on January 18, 1918, on ^ the principle of justice 
to all peoples and nationalities and their right to live 
on equal terms of liberty and safety with one another, 
whether they be strong or weak.' " 

His remark sent my memory back a score of years. 
South Africa ! The Boer War ! Lord Roberts, Kitch- 
ener, Kruger, Botha, Smuts, Dewet, Milner ! The 
Jamieson Raid! The Siege of Ladysmith! Boer 
parades in the United States, Boer funds and public 
meetings, Boer petitions to Congress! The stirring 
animosities of those times had passed quickly from 
among us, and we now counted the Boers as a happy 
and contented lot. To-day our minds were occupied 
with the Balkans, with Germany, with the Letts, the 
Finns, the Czechs, the Poles, and we had no time to 
give to people whom we thought had been assimilated 
years ago. Were not the Boers happy and prosperous 
under a British administration? Did they not have 



104 THE ADVENTUEES OF 

a large measure of self-goveniment in their Parlia- 
ment of the Union ? Did not Botha and Smuts come 
voluntarily to give their genius to Great Britain, the 
latter even standing sponsor for a plan for a league 
of nations which surely radiated confidence in the aims 
and abilities of the British world empire? Why 
should South Africa come up again now as a subject of 
discussion, perhaps controversy ? 

Was it possible that there was no such thing as a 
true conquest by the sword ? 

These thoughts flitted quickly through my mind while 
Van Steen continued to describe the Boer movement. 
I remembered that he had told me he was of Dutch 
descent, and that over a score of years ago he had 
been associated with a legation in Paris that no longer 
existed. 

'^ The South African nationalists," he said, " de- 
clared that they would send deputations to England to 
confer with the king on the subject of independence. 
They received a reply from Lord Buxton, the governor- 
general, who said that the secretary of state for the 
colonies informed him that his Majesty's government 
regarded the South African constitution, the govern- 
ment, and the parliament of the Union as alone quali- 
fied to speak for the people of South Africa. There- 
upon delegates were named to go to Paris and lay the 
situation before the Peace Conference. The British au- 
thorities made an objection to one or two of the dele- 
gates, but on the whole did not oppose the idea. Gen- 
eral Christian Dewet and Pieter Grobler were, I be- 
lieve, stopped from sailing; but General Hertzog, Sen- 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 105 

ator Wolmarans and Dr. Malan were given credentials/' 

^^ Then the British were really willing to let men 
who actually aimed at secession spread their views at 
large ? '' I interrupted. 

" Yes, they were/' replied Van Steen, with a chuckle 
that was characteristic of him. " The British have al- 
ways believed that it 's a good idea to let men with a 
grievance blow off steam. However, before these men 
sailed, a number of things happened. When they 
boarded a British vessel at Cape Town the crew struck, 
declaring they would not sail with traitors. So they 
were compelled to take a Dutch ship for New York. 
Erom New York they will sail eventually for France. 
Some time this summer they should arrive here." 

'' And then ? " I said. 

" Then they will place before the Peace Conference 
the aspirations and hopes of the people of South Africa 
and ask for aid," said Van Steen. " They count first 
of all upon the sympathy and unofficial help of Presi- 
dent Wilson." 

President Wilson! What a beacon light of hope 
that name had become to all the aspiring, discon- 
tented, aggrieved, oppressed, and inarticulate peoples 
of this earth ! 

" Listen," continued Van Steen. '' I have prepared 
a letter to the President on the subject. I want you 
to read it and tell me whether it is the proper thing to 
send. My experience, as you know, has been entirely 
with European cabinets." He chuckled again ; in fact, 
he laughed to himself, as if at a humorous reminiscence. 
'^ If the head of a European cabinet gets a letter that 



106 THE adve:n^tures of 

does n't quite agree with his ideas of what should be 
on this earth, he throws it into the waste-basket. I 
am informed that letters addressed to your American 
representatives, however, are always read and gener- 
ally acknowledged." 

Van Steen handed me his letter to the President. 
It was simple and to the point. President Wilson may 
remember it; at least he will find it in his files. It 
asked the Peace Conference to take up for consideration 
the subject of recognition of the annexation of the Or- 
ange Free Sta4:e and the South African Republic to the 
South African states of the British Empire. While 
I read, Van Steen watched me with that curious expres- 
sion of suppressed mirth that was characteristic of 
him. 

" That is going back a long way in history," I com- 
mented. 

" It concerns a very fine point in diplomacy," said 
Van Steen. " In the case of both the Orange Free 
State and the South African Republic, at one time 
called the Transvaal, the act of annexation of 1900 was 
never formally reported to the foreign cabinets, so that 
there is no official recognition by the other nations on 
record. Technically, therefore, these two states may 
be said to exist, and therefore entitled to be consid- 
ered for membership in the League of Nations. Do 
you think that will interest your President ? " 

" I think that our President came here to make 
peace with Germany," I replied, " and it does not 
seem fair to ask him to sit in judgment over all the 
lost causes of the earth." 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 107 

" Your President has spoken with conviction of jus- 
tice to the small and oppressed," said Van Steen, " and 
on that ground I mean to appeal to him for other na- 
tionalities as well." He tapped his bulging portfolio 
as he spoke. 

I had on my desk a great collection of letters, cir- 
culars, and printed matter that had come in the week's 
mail. Every morning saw the pile increase; every 
evening there were more books, maps, pamphlets, and 
personal pleas than there had been the night before. 
There could be no unemployment among the printers 
of Paris. The presses must be running day and night 
in every attic and basement in Paris, grinding out 
tons of appeals and propaganda for consideration by 
the delegates at the conference. As for the letters to 
the President, copies were freely made and sent to 
the journalists. I picked up half a dozen letters at 
random and showed them to Van Steen. 

" Here are more letters from the President's mail- 
bag," I said. " Let us see what they are about." 

Together we perused the first letter. It was signed 
by E. A. Omar, president of the Egyptian association 
in Great Britain, and had been sent from the Imperial 
hotel, London, April 26, 1919. It read: 

The Egyptian Association in Great Britain beg to record its 
strong protestation against the recognition by the republic of the 
United States of the illegal protectorate imposed by Great Britain 
on the undefended and unarmed nation of Egypt during the course 
of this war. They beg to remind the president that his act is a 
complete violation of his well known principles of justice and fair 
play to the weak as M^ell as to the strong nations. They beg fur- 
ther to record that the president should, before giving a decision 
destructive to the legitimate claims of a small nation, have at 



X 



108 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

least allowed the Egyptian side to be heard. They further most 
sincerely and humbly desire to impress the fact that the Egyptians, 
having been denied the elementary principles of justice which re- 
quires a hearing of an aggrieved party before a decision is given 
against it, cannot be held responsible for whatever developments 
might further occur. The Egyptians cannot still believe that the 
president has given a final decision to the effect that the case of 
Egypt would not be heard in an open and just tribunal, and that 
the mandataries which the whole country have unanimously elected 
should return home unheard and full of agony and disappoint- 
ment. 

Van Steen read it without comment. I picked up 
another letter. It was in French and signed Sean T. 
O'Ceallaigh, depute de la conscriftion du college green, 
Dublin, representant a Paris du gouvernement pro- 
visoire de la republique Irlandaise. It was accom- 
panied by a memorandum in English which began : 
" On behalf of the Irish nation, whose accredited rep- 
resentative I am — '^ 

" !Not entitled, however, to sit at the peace table," 
commented Van Steen. I read from the memorandum : 

At the general election last December the issue, and the only 
issue, placed before the Irish peoples was the independence of their 
country, and by a majority of more than three to one the rep- 
resentatives elected by the constitutional machinery of the ballot 
box are pledged to the abolition of English rule in Ireland. In 
none of the small nationalities with which the Peace Conference 
has hitherto occupied itself is the unanimity of the people so 
great; in none has the national desire for freedom been asserted 
so unmistakably and with so much emphasis. Following upon the 
general election an Irish national assembly has met; an Irish re- 
public has been constituted and proclaimed to the world; a presi- 
dent has been appointed and with him ministers to direct different 
departments of state; a program of domestic policy has been 
issued, and an appeal has been addressed to the nations of the 
world to recognize the free Irish state that has thus been called 
to life. But while the national will has been declared and the 
mechanism of free government is ready, the former is being stifled 



THE FOUETEEN POINTS 109 

and the latter paralyzed by England's ruthless exercise of military 
power. The president is a fugitive; the Irish parliament is 
forced to conduct its business in secret; the most elementary civil 
rights are abrogated; courts-martial are sitting at every center 
and the gaols are filled with prisoners, victims of every brutality 
and indignity, whose only offense is that they have sought the 
freedom of their native land. It is in these circumstances that 
the Irish nation, through me, addresses the peace conference. 

Mr. O'Ceallaigii asked the conference to take up the 
case of Ireland because that nation " manifestly comes 
within the scope of the principles that have been in- 
dorsed by the civilized nations/' and protested ex- 
plicitly against the adoption of Article X of the 
covenant of the League of Nations, by the terms of which 
members undertake " to preserve and respect as against 
external aggression the territorial integrity and exist- 
ing political independence of all states members of the 
league." Mr. O'Ceallaigh did not wish the nations to 
guarantee Great Britain in the possession of Ireland. 

The case of Ireland has become so important a fac- 
tor in American politics and in Anglo-American rela- 
tions that the story of wliat actually took place at the 
time of the Peace Conference may be recounted here. 
When the Sinn Fein leaders first announced that they 
would ask the Peace Conference for a hearing of their 
claims for independence, a titter of amusement might 
have been heard in more than one of the delegations 
in Paris. Ireland was purely a British matter, they 
argued, and no one would be so foolhardy as to antag- 
onize the British Government by even suggesting that 
this was fit for international attention. The British 
themselves discounted the strength of the Sinn Fein 
party, and gave little heed to the results of the elec- 



110 THE ADVENTURES OF 

tion, which showed that this party had made a tre- 
mendous gain in adherents over the nationalists. Then 
twenty-five members of the Sinn Fein who had been 
elected to seats in the British House of Commons met 
on January 21, 1919, in Dublin and formed the '' Dail 
Eireann," or Irish Parliament. A goodly number of 
them wandered into jail as a result of their political 
activities, including Eamon de Valera, " president of 
the republic.'' Three men were appointed to go to 
X Paris to present the Irish case, Count Plunkett, Arthur 
Griffith, and de Valera. On February 3, de Valera 
made his spectacular escape from the Lincoln jail under 
circumstances that caused a good deal of amusement 
at the apparent stupidity of his jailers. The immi- 
nence of his appearance in Paris was foreshadowed, and 
O'Ceallaigh attempted to pave the way for his recep- 
tion at the conference. But the British would have 
none of it. 

At this juncture American intervention made an in- 
ternational matter of the Irish question. A conven- 
tion of Irish societies of the United States appointed 
three delegates to visit Paris and try to get aid for the 
cause of Irish independence — Edward F. Dunne of 
Chicago, former governor of Illinois ; Michael J. Eyan 
of Philadelphia, former public service commissioner of 
Pennsylvania; and Frank P. Walsh, at one time joint 
chairman of the War Labor Board. Besides, an at- 
tempt was made to get a promise from President Wil- 
son. A group of representatives of the Irish societies 
called on him at the Metropolitan Opera House in New 



THE F0URTEE:N' P0I]S[TS 111 

York city on March 4. They reported that they asked 
the President the following question: 

^^ Are you prepared to advocate before the Peace Con- 
ference the right of Ireland to dispose of herself ac- 
cording to the principles laid down in your fourteen 
points ? '' 

President Wilson is said to have replied: 

" Surely you do not think that I can answer this 
now ? " 

The delegates then told him that they would get his 
answer in Paris. Then the American House of Kep- 
resentatives by a vote of 216 to 41 passed a resolution 
asking the American mission in Paris to consider fav- 
orably the Irish claims to the right of self-determination 
— a resolution typical of the influence foreign ele- 
ments in American politics frequently exert on a body 
that depends upon the popular vote for its existence. 
When Messrs. Dunne, Ryan, and Walsh reached JParis 
they called immediately on President Wilson and Colo- 
nel House. The British authorities gave them the 
right to visit Ireland, and their visit became the oc- 
casion for Sinn Fein demonstrations that caused alarm 
in British circles. When they returned to France, Sec- 
retary Lansing informed them that their utterances in 
Ireland " gave deepest offense to those persons with 
whom we are seeking to deal. Consequently it has 
seemed useless to make any further effort in connection 
with the requests which you desire to make." 

This letter brought a hot rejoinder from Walsh, who 
declared that the party had conducted itself properly 



112 THE ADVENTURES OF 

in Ireland and had violated no promises. An attempt 
was made to win the consent of men from the British 
dominions to a hearing of the Irish case before the 
Peace Conference, and Prime Minister Massey of New 
Zealand and Prime Minister Hughes of Australia were 
said to have viewed the matter favorably, but Borden of 
Canada was reported opposed to the project. On June 
11 President Wilson had a conference with Walsh and 
Dunne, and was said to have agreed to do what he could 
unofficially. It appeared unlikely, however, that the 
conference would act officially, for the reason that the 
so-called Irish republic was not actually performing 
the functions of a de facto government in Ireland. 

The three Americans inflamed public feeling still 
further when they published a report of cruelties and 
hardships said to have been inflicted on Irish political 
prisoners in British jails, and the whole subject assumed 
international proportions because the sympathetic at- 
titude of Americans of Irish birth or descent in the 
United States affected the good relations existing be- 
tween England and America. The success of the 
League of Nations seemed threatened because the oppon- 
ents of the league joined hands with the Irish in de- 
X^ nouncing Great Britain, asserting that the league was 
merely an attempt on the part of the British to dom- 
inate the world order through the United States. 
Groups that had been covertly pro-German during the 
war also joined in the agitation because it embarrassed 
Great Britain. It became increasingly clear that no 
matter whether the Sinn Feiners were justified or not in 
their demands for independence, the time had com^ 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 113 

for the British to set resolutely to work to give Ireland 
political tranquillity, freedom from exploitation, and a 
measure of self-government, thereby eliminating a dan- 
gerous element not only from British politics, but from 
American affairs as well. 

" It looks as if there is a lot of work ahead for the 
British Empire," I told Van Steen when we were con- 
sidering the case of Ireland. '' I should n't wonder if 
several years will elapse before they get around to your 
nationalists in South Africa." 

^' I hope for the best consideration for my cause," 
said Van Steen, " but there must be a good many other 
nations appealing to President Wilson besides the three 
we have considered." 

I looked over the letters again. Here was the dupli- 
cate of another addressed to the President. It was 
from " La Mission Correene, 38 Rue de Chateaudun, 
Paris," and began: 

" Dear Mr. President : I have the honor to submit 
for your perusal a copy of the claim of the Korean peo- 
ple and nation for liberation from Japan, which my 
delegation has filed with the Peace Conference." The 
letter was signed by J. Kiusic Soho Kimm as repre- 
sentative of the provisional government of Korea. 

^' On what ground does he base his claim for rec- 
ognition ? " asked Van Steen. 

'' On the ground that one man, the Emperor of 
Korea, under the coercion of Japan, signed away the 
independence of his nation by the treaty of August 22, 
1910, after Japan had recognized the full and complete 
independence and autonomy of Korea, in the treaty of 



114 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

Shimonoseki with. China on April 17, 1895. He asks 
that this act be annulled." 

" I suppose he cites reasons why the delegation seeks 
this annulment/' said Van Steen. 

^' Yes.'' I read the headings quickly. " Japaniza- 
tion and Prussianization." " Expropriation of Korean 
Landowners." " Banning the Korean Language and 
History." " Controlling Korean Education." The 
argument had been well presented. I picked the fol- 
lowing sentences at random : 

Imprisonment, banishment or worse might be the penalty if 
some Korean should be tempted to recite to the children of the 
soil a traditional story or song or some folk lore telling how men 
fought and died for Korea in other days. 

Korean history cannot be taught and after the student has 
advanced a little way he must stop school altogether. 

Nearly every wealthy Korean is obliged to have a Japanese 
overseer at his house controlling his properties and finances. 

And it is not a little interesting to note that an American in- 
vestigator in the course of his inquiries on the state of Korea un- 
der the Japanese found that no family in some places was per- 
mitted to own the Korean kitchen knife, which has been in com- 
mon use from time immemorial. One such knife had to be shared 
by five or six families, and when not in use had to be hung at a 
spot in full view of the beat of a Japanese gendarme. 

Einally this line struck my attention : ^' The policy 
of the prize pig." The paragraph below it read : 

The "improvements" loudly advertised in the annual reports 
of the Korean government general are made either for the en- 
couragement of the Japanese settlers or in the interests of what 
may be truly described as the policy of the prize pig — for much 
the same reason that a breeder fattens his pig for a show. 

" The man who prepared the Korean memorandum 
to President Wilson," I said, " knew a great deal about 
the methods of American publicity. Shall I go on ? " 



THE rOUKTEEN POINTS 115 

" I don't think it necessary," said Van Steen. 
"When I consider that all these people are appealing 
to President Wilson, I wonder when he will get around 
to my poor Boers.'' 

" And these are not all," I said. " His mail-bag is 
jammed full to the very top every day. I '11 wager 
that there are a dozen more appeals in this pile of let- 
ters alone." 

For curiosity's sake, we ran through them. Van 
Steen took a pencil and set down the name of the na- 
tionality, and opposite it something about its wishes. 
The list looked like this : 

Albania — Nationalist group seeks autonomy and eventual in- 
dependence, the country to be placed temporarily under the 
guardianship of one of the powers. " The Stars and Stripes have 
appeared in Albania. A new era of approaching peace and hap- 
piness is dawning on the clouded and blood-stained horizon of the 
Balkans. The torch of the American goddess of Liberty has been 
lifted, and we hope it will not be lowered until each and all Balkan 
races are redeemed and restored within their racial lines in ac- 
cordance with the dictates of the impartial justice advocated by^ 
President Wilson." 

Armenia — The delegation from the Armenian republic, headed 
by A. Aharonian, its president, asks recognition of an independ- 
ent Armenian state formed by the union of the seven vilayets and 
of Cilicia with the territories of the Armenian republic of the 
Caucasus, under the special guarantee of the Allies and the United 
States or under the League of Nations, with a special mandate for 
twenty years to one of the great powers. 

Croatia — Dr. Raditch signs a protest against the usurpation 
of sovereign powers by the Serbian Government over the autono- 
mous nation of Croatia, and asks the conference to guarantee self- 
government to the Croats and organize the greater Serbian state 
along the lines of a federative republic like the United States. 

Esthonia — A delegation seeks recognition of the independence 
of Esthonia, the plea having been put personally to President 
Wilson during his visit to London, and being repeated now before 
the conference. 



116 THE rOUKTEEN POmTS 

Finland — Dr. Adolf Torngren and Dr. Y. Him, delegates to 
the Peace Conference named by General Mannerheira, ask recogni- 
tion of the independence of Finland and a guarantee of its in- 
tegrity. 

Georgia — The delegates Cheidze and Tsertelli present their 
claims for the recognition of the independence of the republic of 
Georgia, in southern Russia, and assert that it was never con- 
quered, but voluntarily entered into a union with the czars and now 
takes back its ancient rights. 

Kouban — M. Bytch, president of the legislative assembly of 
Kouban and head of the delegation in Paris, asks recognition of 
the independence of Kouban, in Russia, and help in a defensive 
fight against the Bolsheviki. 

Kutso Vlachs — Rumanian elements in Albania seek autonomy 
under the protection of one of the great powers, preferably Italy. 

Lebanon — Nahoum A. Mokarzel, delegate of the Lebanese 
League at the Hotel Continental, seeks the reconstitution of Leb- 
anon in its historic and natural frontiers, with a constitutional 
and independent government with French collaboration. 

Lusatia — Serbs living in this ancient margravinate, which was 
divided between Saxony and Austria by the Congress of Vienna, 
ask independence and close relations with the Czecho-Slovaks. 

Persia — M. Mochaverol Mamalek, minister of foreign affairs for 
Persia, and the Persian mission in Paris, ask the Peace Conference 
to give back its old frontiers, and its political and economic in- 
dependence, as well as restoration of the integrity of the country 
by the evacuation of all foreign troops and reparation for the 
enormous damage committed by the armies that used Persian terri- 
tory during the war. Persia submits that it has been a theater 
of war and that, through distinct declaration, it "joined the 
protests made by the entente against the violation of international 
law committed by Germany, especially against the submarine 
warfare." 

Ukraine — M. Sydorenko, president of the delegation from the 
republic of Ukraine and Dr. Paneyko, vice-president, seek recog- 
nition of the independence of this republic, which they assert is 
fighting the Bolshevism of Lenin, the reaction of Denikine, and 
the alleged aggression of the Poles in their territory. 

" And there are people in this world/' said Van 
Steen, when we had completed the list, " who think 
this Peace Conference should have finished its work in 
six weeks at the most ! '' 



CHAPTER VIII 

How the Prince of the Hedjaz pitched his Arabian tent in the 
apartments of a Parisian hotel, and how he disconcerted the 
plans for a Jewish Palestine and a French Syria by his modest 
request for the empire of the califate. 

From Mecca, the city of the Kaaba, from the holy 
sites of western Arabia, which the world of Islam ap- 
proaches only on its knees, came the Emir Eeisal to 
plead the cause of Hussein, King of the Hedjaz, before 
the four most powerful Christian judges of the earth. 

The flavor of the eternal romance of the East is in 
this story of the rise of Hussein, custodian of the holy 
temple of the prophet in Mecca. And bound up with 
this mission of the Emir Feisal is the intrigue and 
calculated cunning of the diplomacy of the Western 
World. The war has obscured the romantic battle 
waged in the midst of the Arabian desert by the horse- 
men of the King of the Hedjaz, but in the story of the 
Peace Conference the mission of the Emir Feisal stands 
out like a patch of dazzling color against a drab back- 
ground. 

Only a few years before the war Hedjaz was a vilayet 
in western Arabia, known principally for its numerous 
holy places of Islam, inhabited by Arab traders and 
groups of wandering Bedouin tribes, with a population 
at the most of little more than half a million. To-day 
Hedjaz is spoken of as an independent kingdom, aspir- 

117 



118 THE ADVENTURES OF 

ing to the hegemony of all the Arabian-speaking world, 
seeking trade routes that for decades had been the ob- 
ject of German intrigues in Constantinople, asking title 
to seaports with famous names and inland cities of the 
ancient califate of Bagdad, and offering to be the spokes- 
man internationally for hundreds of thousands of men 
of alien race and tongue. Neither the conservative, lib- 
eral, nor extremist elements of the ancient Empire of 
Eussia, a world of nearly two hundred million people, 
had been able to force a way to the peace table. Mon- 
tenegro, a recognized nation and one of the first victims 
of the Austro-German avalanche, knocked in vain at the 
doors on the Quai d'Orsay. But the mission from 
Hedjaz, coming to Paris in flowing robes and turbans, 
obtained two delegates to the Peace Conference for little 
more than a song. 

To hear why, and to learn the story of the new Ara- 
bia, I, too, one day joined the pilgrimage to Hedjaz. 

One might well expect to visit the son of the sherif 
of Mecca in a tent glowing with brilliant colors, on 
the fringe of the Arabian desert, there to find him 
munching figs and dates and surrounded by Arabs in 
flowing robes of wool. It seemed incongruous that my 
path should lead to the velvet-carpeted corridors of the 
Hotel Continental, on the Rue de Rivoli, and that I 
should be ushered into a suite of rooms immaculate in 
white enamel, resplendent with red damask hangings 
and generouiely endowed with heavy crystal chandeliers. 
But there was an Oriental touch that compensated for 
the lack of Eastern surroundings. In the corridor be- 
fore the door of the emir stood a coal-black negro, tur- 



THE rOUETEEN POINTS 119 

baned and robed, bis features immobile, but bis eyes 
flasbing. Inside tbe rooms were otber turbaned ne- 
groes, picked men of tbe prince's body-guard, wbo 
spoke in low, guttural tones as tbey bowed and per- 
formed tbe slight offices of hospitality for a stranger. 

The Arabs of tbe prince's entourage wore European 
attire, but tbe moment they donned their long robes of 
black wool and added the picturesque turban, which 
was held by a number of gold cords about the brow, they 
seemed to transfer themselves across the seas into the 
atmosphere of tbe land from which they bad come. 
And finally when the emir entered the room, also wear- 
ing a long, trailing black robe and a gold-colored head- 
dress, the Parisian surroundings were forgotten, and I 
was in a land that has been a secret orchard from the 
days of the Israelites to our own. 

It was true ; the emissaries of Iledjaz had come out of 
the desert to Paris to ask for an empire. 

The emir is a quiet, soft-spoken man of about thirty- 
five. He has the look of a scholar, tbe modest demeanor 
of a man of refinement and cultivated tastes. Eor six- 
teen years he lived in Constantinople, a hostage at the 
Ottoman court for the good behaviour and loyalty of tbe 
ruling house of Iledjaz. It is said that he best loves 
classical and philosophical studies. It was almost with 
an air of apology that be sketched the claims of Hedjaz 
on a map of Asia Minor. The greater part of the map, 
including Arabia, Mesopotamia, Palestine, and most of 
Syria, had been shaded with a lead-pencil. 

" This is the Arabia for which we are asking the 
Peace Conference," said the prince. He pointed on 



120 THE adve:n^tukes of 

the map to a point as far north as Alexandretta, on the 
coast, and then indicated all the territory south of a line 
drawn eastward to Diabekr, the Tigris River, Tekrif 
and Madekik, and stretching some distance beyond 
Basra. 

" In America we think of Arabia as a land of deserts 
south of Palestine," I said. 

^' All who speak Arabian are Arabs," said the emir, 
modestly, but decisively, ^' and where they live is 
Arabia." 

Ahmed Kadry of Damascus, the prince's personal 
physician, supplemented the statement. 

" In the territory indicated," he explained, ^^ most 
of the inhabitants speak Arabian, although there are 
populations there that do not speak it. Many foreigners 
believe the Arabs in the south to be simply Bedouins. 
But that is not true. The Bedouins are nomadic Arabs. 
The word ^ bedouin ' means ' dweller in a tent.' The 
Arabs are scattered all over Arabia proper, Mesopo- 
tamia, and Syria, which of course includes Palestine." 

The emir nodded vigorously in assent. 

" Then you are asking for sovereignty over this ter- 
ritory ? " I asked. 

" Eventually, yes," he replied. " At present, how- 
ever, we seek only the federation of all the Arabian 
lands. It may be that the conference will see fit to 
grant autonomy to certain districts in Asia Minor or to 
extend the protectorates of great powers over wide areas. 
With that policy v^e are, of course, in sympathy. We 
fought with the Allies in the war, and when we threw 
off the yoke of the Turk and declared Hedjaz inde- 



THE FOUETEEN POINTS 121 

pendent, the British were the first to recognize us and to 
extend their help." 

At this moment an English officer in khaki, who wore 
an Arabian turban like the others, came unobtrusively 
into the room. He was a man of medium height, with 
smooth shaven, regular features. He had a fine face, 
a strong, well-modeled face, with a splendid chin and 
well-set eyes that took a friendly interest in everything. 
He was introduced as Colonel Lawrence. I had heard 
before that he had played an important part in the cam- 
paign of General Allenby in Palestine, and realized at 
once that this was the modern English Warwick who 
had become a topic of conversation, and who was credited 
with being the principal power behind the mission of 
the King of the Hedjaz. Wilson, Clemenceau, Eoch, 
Lloyd George — these were figures that all the world 
knew and acclaimed ; but the world did not know Colonel 
Edward Lawrence, who proved to be one of the pic- 
turesque, versatile men of the conference, and whose 
name will be met again in the future. 

I shall never forget the words in which Colonel Law- 
rence described himself, after the first few pleasantries 
had been exchanged. 

'^ Indeed, I 'm not a diplomat," he said. " I 'm not 
even a soldier by profession. I 'm a student. I was in 
Asia Minor on a scientific mission when I became in- 
terested in Hedjaz. I suppose I was asked to help 
because I knew something about the country. I should 
like nothing more than to get out of uniform and back 
to my studies." 

Then he told the story of Hedjaz. 



122 THE ADVENTURES OF 

" The King of the Hedjaz was a vassal of the Turks,'' 
said Colonel Lawrence. '^ By controlling the king, the 
Turks also controlled Mecca and maintained their hold 
over Islam. When the British began to invade Tur- 
key, the King of the Hedjaz came to us and asked that 
we recognize him as an independent sovereign, feed 
his army, and equip and pay his troops in a campaign 
against the Turks. He made no request of a political 
nature, saying merely that he would come for his reward 
after the war. We accepted. The moment that Hedjaz 
rose, the Turks could no longer depend on their Arab 
troops. They were compelled to turn their Arabian 
fighting units into labor battalions. Erom that moment 
the Turk was doomed. 

" We landed arms and rations from Egypt and India 
on the Red Sea and paid the troops of the king. The 
nucleus of his army was made up of tribesmen who had 
deserted from the Turks. The king grew stronger as 
the war progressed. At the time of the armistice he 
had fifty thousand men in the field. His fighters per- 
formed brilliantly in battle, and his horsemen led in 
several charges. And now he asks that all the Arabs 
be recognized as one people under his sovereignty. 
When at the end of the war the king went on foot from 
Medina to Aleppo, he walked every step of the way on 
Arabian soil." 

The emir had become a listener. Colonel Lawrence 
had become the real spokesman of the delegation from 
Hedjaz. 

" We do not urge that the King of the Hedjaz should 
have direct sovereignty over all this territory as yet," 



THE rOUKTEEN POINTS 123 

he continued. " It would be better to divide it into 
autonomous zones, forming the beginning of a great 
Arabian confederation. The zones should be placed un- 
der a protectorate, named by the League of l^ations. 
This would prevent exploitation by selfish interests." 

" Does not this plan conflict with the proposed 
Kingdom of Jerusalem ? " I asked. 

^^ There is as yet no Kingdom of Jerusalem," re- 
plied Colonel Lawrence. " The country is integrally 
a part of Arabia, but the King of the Hedjaz has no 
objection to giving autonomy to the Zionists in the land 
they ask, from Dan to Beersheba. I think this can be 
done with success." 

The remark was translated for the Emir Eeisal, who 
had been listening intently, but who does not speak 
English. He nodded his head. 

" We have a certain kinship with the Jews," he ex- 
plained in French. ^^ Both Jews and Arabs are Se- 
mitic. We are cousins." 

The face of the prince to some extent bore out this 
assertion. It was a face of fine lines, a well modeled 
forehead, a large, sensitive mouth, and a swarthy com- 
plexion, with a bit of a beard such as might have been 
worn by the patriarchs of old. But the lines of his 
nose were straight. 

^^ What interest, if any, has Great Britain in your 
plan ? " I asked of Colonel Lawrence. 

" The interest of Great Britain is non-political," he 
replied. " Great Britain is the protector of so many 
Moslems that it is to our interest to see that Mecca is 
not exploited. If the Moslem world thought that Great 



124 THE ADVE:N^TURES OF 

Britain had undue influence over Hedjaz, it would make 
trouble for us with the Moslems in India/' 

" What hope do you have that your plan will suc- 
ceed?" 

'' We have obtained the support of Great Britain," 
said Colonel Lawrence. '^ What we need now is the 
support of the United States. Once we gain that, I am 
sure the whole scheme can be put into the hands of the 
League of ^NTations." 

The turbaned black men of the Arabian desert served 
tea and cakes. Tea is the beverage over which the fate 
of the world is being determined at this conference. 
We talked of many things, and it seemed to me that I 
had opened a new window on a little-known corner of 
the world. 

The next day I sought out a friend who possesses an 
intimate knowledge of French foreign affairs. 

" I have just made an interesting discovery," I said. 
" It is the story of the rise of the house of Hedjaz, the 
successor to the ancient califate of Bagdad, destined to 
rule again in the high places of the medieval calif." 

" It is an iridescent dream," he remarked briefly and, 
I thought, not without a touch of bitterness. 

" How do you explain the phenomenon of the King 
of the Hedjaz?" I asked. 

" Great Britain," he answered sharply. 

" What interest has Great Britain in Hedjaz ? " 

" Well, the ^ Temps ' says it cost the British five and 
one half million francs a month for the expenses of 
Hedjaz by the end of last summer, and that over two 
and one half million francs were paid monthly to the 



THE FOUKTEEN POII^TS 125 

Emir Feisal as chief of the Arab Array of the ITorth.'' 
" And why did Hedjaz, a country without influence, 
whose help in the war was hardly as important as that 
of the minor countries of the Continent, get two dele- 
gates at the Peace Conference ? " 

" Because Great Britain urged it, and France ac- 
ceded. Confronted with the wishes of the two most 
interested powers, the United States gave its consent," 
said my informant. " That is all. By the way, as 
you are interested," he added, '' I would advise you 
to consult the secret agreement between France, Eng- 
land, and Bussia, the geography of the Suez Canal and 
the route to India, and the story of French and German 
commercial enterprise in Asia Minor. If that does not 
suffice, come to me again." 

We go back then to the secret treaties. Truly Trot- 
zky, commissioner of foreign affairs for soviet Russia, 
was a friend of the uninformed when he rummaged in 
the czar's lumber-room and found these little helps to an 
understanding of secret diplomacy. One of them is a 
memorandum reporting the result of negotiations at 
London and Petrograd in the spring of 1916. It out- 
lines the following zones of influence in Asia Minor: 

France and Great Britain are disposed to recognize and to pro- 
tect an independent Arab state or a confederation of Arab states 
under the suzerainty of an Arab chief, in two zones in Asia Minor. 
France will have the right of priority of enterprises and loans in 
its zone, and Great Britain the same privileges in its zone. France 
and Great Britain in their respective zones alone will furnish 
foreign counselors and functionaries at the request of the proposed 
Arab state. 

In the zones France and Great Britain will be authorized to 
establish a direct or indirect administration QV any control they 



126 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

desire or judge suitable to establish after an understanding with 
the Arab Government. 

France is to receive as her zone the coast strip of Syria, the 
Addansk district, and the territory bounded on the south by a line 
running through Ajutab-Mardin to the future Russian boundary, 
and on the north by a line running through Ala Daga, Kosanya, 
Ak Daga, Yildiz Daga, Zara, Egin and Kharput. 

Great Britain acquires as her zone the southern part of Meso- 
potamia with Bagdad, and reserves for herself in Syria the ports 
of Haifa and St. Jean d'Acre, Haifa to be a free port for French 
commerce. 

Alexandretta in the French zone is declared a free port for 
British commerce. 

With the aim of conserving the religious interests of the Allied 
powers, Palestine, with the sacred places, is to be separated from 
Turkish territory and is to be subject to a special regime by 
agreement between Russia, France, and England. 

I soon found that the French regarded the claims of 
Hedjaz as decidedly antagonistic to the wishes of France 
in Asia Minor. Moreover, it was felt that the manner 
in which Hedjaz had been quietly supported by Great 
Britain at the conference indicated that Great Britain 
was trying to gain a wider sphere of influence in Asia 
Minor than the original secret agreement permitted. 
Most confusing, however, was the fact that although 
the Hedjaz delegation expressed the warmest friend- 
liness for the Zionists who wanted a Jerusalem of their 
own, the English Zionists repulsed their overtures and 
declared emphatically that the new Jewish state must 
be free from all Arab interference, and that no ar- 
rangement giving them autonomy under the nominal 
sovereignty of Hedjaz within an Arabian confedera- 
tion would be countenanced. 

As early as February 6 the storm broke. From a 
discussion of the relations of the Czecho-Slovaks and 
the Poles, the council of the five, including the President 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 127 

of the United States, the prime ministers of France, 
Great Britain, and Italy and a representative of Japan, 
turned to hear the cause of Hedjaz, presented by the 
Emir Eeisal. 

In his memorandum the Emir Eeisal named six di- 
visions of Arabia in which he was interested: Syria, 
which he regarded as sufficiently advanced for autono- 
mous government ; Irak and Djezireh, both parts of 
Mespotamia, which he said should come under the pro- 
tectorate of " one of the great powers '^ for the early ex- 
ploitation of their resources; Hedjaz, which was com- 
pletely independent; Nedjed, in the interior, and Ye- 
men, on the Red sea, which were considered able to 
regulate their affairs with the help of Hedjaz and with- 
out interference from the Peace Conference. As for 
Palestine, the memorandum set forth that the enor- 
mous majority of the population was Arabian, but that, 
not wishing to assume responsibility for regulating the 
affairs of the many races and religions represented here, 
Hedjaz was willing that this also should come under the 
protection of a great power, the dominant position of the 
Arabs being meanwhile recognized. 

The hearing aroused considerable Erench antago- 
nism. The attitude of the Erench Government may be 
guessed partly from the comment in the semi-official 
newspaper, " Le Temps," which directed attention to 
the fact that the " great power " which Hedjaz de- 
sired should be given a mandate in Mesopotamia and 
Palestine was none other than Great Britain, and that 
this was hardly in keeping with the declaration of the 
Arab king that he was under no political obligations to 



128 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

the British. The ^' Temps " moreover said of Hedjaz 
that ^' its history is brief, but its appetite is very great," 
and spoke of ^' the substitution of a Bedouin imperialism 
for a Turkish imperialism.'^ 

Frenehmen said bluntly that if the dream of Hedjaz 
were realized, Hedjaz would become the center of a 
great " fictional " empire running from Akabah and 
perhaps Ma'an on the north as far south as the British 
protectorate at Aden, including all Arabia, and also all 
Turkish territory where the Arab tongue is spoken, 
including Syria, Alexandretta, Kurdistan, and Mesopo- 
tamia. The French also said that Syria was under 
the rule of the Bedouin Arabs only from a. d. 635 to 
656; so that Hedjaz could not contend that it was re- 
covering historic rights for itself. 

A few days after the Emir Feisal appeared before 
the council another attempt was made by Hedjaz to 
build up its claim. This occurred at the plenary ses- 
sion of the Peace Conference on February 14, when 
Rustem Haida, in commenting on the covenant of the 
League of Nations, which had just been read by Presi- 
dent Wilson, contributed this gratuitous kick at the 
Anglo-French agreement affecting Asia Minor : 

In clause 19 of the covenant we read propositions particularly 
applying to the nationalities that have been liberated from the 
Turkish yoke, and there the word " mandate " is used, but the 
definition of that word is not given. It remains vague and unde- 
fined. On the interpretation that will be given to that word de- 
pends the freedom of liberated populations. This will be seen 
when the discussion which it is not intended to begin to-day will 
be instituted. For the present I wish to say that this article 
leaves to the nations liberated from the Turkish domination the 
right to choose the power from, which they will ask help and ad- 



THE FOUETEEJSr POINTS 129 

vice. Now, we know that there is in existence a secret covenant 
to divide this nation of ours without consulting us. We ask 
whether such a convention, from the very fact of this covenant, 
has become null and void. We thank all the powers for the part 
they have taken for the drafting of an act the result of which will 
be to give welcome guarantees to all the small nationalities. 

'Now comes the second chapter in this story of near 
Eastern intrigue. When the Zionists of England re- 
jected the pretensions of Hedjaz to sovereignty over 
Palestine, the affair became more confusing than ever 
to the lay mind. Ostensibly Hedjaz was in Paris with 
the full consent of the British Government, which had 
even helped it get a hearing. On the other hand there 
was no doubt that the Zionist movement, which aimed 
at autonomous government for the Jews of »Jerusalem 
under a British protectorate, was opposed to the as- 
pirations of Hedjaz. Moreover, to some extent the 
Zionists had already obtained the favor of the British 
Government for their enterprise, for there was on rec- 
ord a declaration made by the British secretary of state 
for foreign affairs to Lord Rothschild, which read : 
" His Majesty's government view with favor t^'^ estab- 
lishment in Palestine of a national home for tue Jew- 
ish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate 
the achievement of this object, it being clearly under- 
stood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the 
civil and religious rights and political status enjoyed 
by the Jews in any other country." This declaration 
had won the approval of President Wilson and of most 
of the governments represented in Paris. To observers 
at the conference it began to look as if the British 



130 THE ADVENTURES OF 

were divided between Hedjaz and Zion, and that one 
group was evidently striving to extend the sphere of 
British influence much farther than had ever been 
contemplated either by the Zionists or the French, 
y On March 1 the case for Zion was placed before the 
Council of Ten by the representatives of the Jews in 
Palestine, Dr. [N'ahum Sokolow, Rabbi Weizmann, and 
M. Ussischkin. They spoke on behalf of a home in Pal- 
estine for Jews who recognize no nationality but their 
own, who favor a revival of the Hebrew national con- 
sciousness and of the Hebrew language. They set forth 
that the present Jewish population was only 100,000, 
but that there was room for 1,000,000 Jews. They 
asked that a Jewish state be delimited out of Syria from 
Dan to Beersheba, and that it be placed under the pro- 
tection of Great Britain. 

On the same day the representatives of the American 
Jews, Julian W. Mack, Louis Marshall, Stephen S. 
Wise, and Bernard G. Richards, who were instructed 
to speak for 3,000,000 Jews of the United States at a 
convention held in Philadelphia in 1918, submitted to 
President Wilson their views on how this trusteeship 
of Palestine might be administered to aid the Jews. 
They suggested that the Jews there be represented in 
executive and legislative bodies and in public office, that 
communities be encouraged to become autonomous, that 
assistance be given from the public funds for the edu- 
cation of the inhabitants without distinction of race 
or creed, that Hebrew be made one of the official lan- 
guages, that the Jewish Sabbath and holy days be pro- 
claimed days of rest, and that a citizenship of Pales- 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 131 

tine be constituted and recognized under the protec- 
torate of the mandatory power. 

Not all of the arguments advanced on behalf of a 
Jewish Palestine were based on religious or racial 
grounds. A part of British opinion declared that such 
a state would be a bulwark for British rule in the East. 
The Suez Canal and the British Empire in Asia were 
considered vulnerable through Mesopotamia and Egypt. 
There was constant danger of religious agitation that 
might become anti-British in character. A Jewish Pal- 
estine would safeguard the canal and the East. The 
British Palestine committee advanced the argument that 
the organization of a Jewish state would win the favor 
of the 3,000,000 Jews in the United States for Great 
Britain, many of whom occupied places of influence and 
trust, and so help offset the suspicion of Great Britain's 
motives that is frequently expressed by Americans of 
Irish and German descent, and which is fed by the his- 
toric picture of England in American school-books. A 
few significant sentences from the declaration of this 
committee may throw light on this argument : 

Great Britain must either get into very close association with 
the United States or run imminent risk of a clash with the United 
States. ... A war between England and America would prob- 
ably be the death of both countries. . . . Close association be- 
tween England and America would be the surest guarantee of 
world peace. . . . With all these powerful elements arrayed 
against good relations between England and America it is plain 
that this country will need to rally in America all the friends 
she can if the catastrophe of a breach is to be avoided. . . . 
American Jews have not merely been pro-ally, but specifically 
pro-English. . . . Any action by the British Government which 
could be justly interpreted as wanting in fidelity or cordiality to 
the great Jewish ideal of a Jewish Palestine would be counted 
\a America by American Jews as a breach of faith(. 



X 



132 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

When tlie Jews in Paris made their plea to the Peace 
Conference, a letter breathing the spirit of most friendly 
sympathy and interest was written by the Emir Feisal 
to Dr. Felix Frankfurter, one of the Americans sup- 
porting Jewish aims in Paris. The letter declared : 

We Arabs, especially the educated among us, look with the 
deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement. Our deputation here 
in Paris is fully acquainted with the proposals submitted yester- 
day by the Zionist organization to the Peace Conference, and we 
regard them as moderate and proper. We will do our best, in 
so far as we are concerned, to help them through: we will wish 
the Jews a most hearty welcome home. . . . The Jewish movement 
is national and not imperialist; our movement is national and not 
imperialist; there is room in Syria for us both. 

The letter further declared that the aims of both the 
Jews and the Arabs had been misrepresented to the 
Arab and Jewish peasantry, and closed with the state- 
ment that there were differences not on principle, but 
only on matters of detail, and added the hope that these 
might be adjusted by ^' mutual good will." Throughout 
the pages of this remarkable letter I seemed to hear the 
voice of a young and talented diplomat, a man who wore 
a turban, but had the uniform of an English colonel be- 
neath his flowing robe. 

The attitude of the Emir Feisal may have been 
V strongly conciliatory, but the Arabs in Palestine did not 
seem to agree with him. Reports reached the confer- 
y' ence that wide-spread anti-Zionist movements were on 
, foot. Threats of violence against the Jews were re- 
^ ported to Paris. The news made a painful impres- 
sion. The delegates who were not directly interested 
in the fate of Asia Minor began to feel that Palestine 



THE EOUETEEIT POmTS 133 

was far from being a unit on tlie subject of its future 
government. The American delegates expressed them- 
selves at a loss to judge the situation properly. They 
had not taken a decisive stand on the claims of the King 
of the Hedjaz, because the United States was not in- 
timately interested in the disposition of Mesopotamia 
and Syria except in the general application of the prin- 
ciples of President Wilson. They preferred that these 
questions should be settled first by the powers directly 
concerned. On the other hand, they were disposed to 
look favorably upon the scheme of Jewish self-govern- 
ment in Palestine, because of pressure brought to bear 
by the Jews at home, and because of the American de- 
sire to aid oppressed minorities to develop unhampered. 

Paris was the center of several movements against a 
Jewish Palestine. The Frenc^h Government was luke- 
warm to the idea at first, and French Jews as a whole 
showed little interest. An organization called " Les 
Amis de la Terre Sainte " began issuing pamphlets at- 
tacking the movement. The antagonism of the French 
Government, however, was not thought to be based on 
religious grounds, but rather on a suspicion that Great 
Britain was getting a little too much influence in Asia 
Minor. By the time the Jewish delegates came be- 
fore the Council of Ten the views of the French Gov- 
ernment appeared to have undergone a change, and M. 
Andre Tardieu, the wide-awake member of the French 
delegation, declared that France would not oppose plac- 
ing Palestine under an English mandate. This helped 
clear the atmosphere. 

But the Peace Conference was not yet ready to act. 



134 THE ADVENTURES OF 

The problem of Arabian sovereignty involved the Jew- 
ish Palestine, and the creation of the Jewish Palestine 
affected the disposition of Syria and the secret agreo- 
ment regarding Asia Minor as a whole. Other questions 
came up, — those of the Turks in Anatolia, the Greeks 
on the sea coast, the future of Constantinople, the cali- 
f ate, the proposal of an American mandate for Armenia, 
— all more or less connected with the settlement of the 
problems of Hedjaz and Palestine. The Peace Confer- 
ence finally determined that it was insufficiently in- 
formed. It voted to appoint an international commis- 
sion to visit Asia Minor and gather data on all these 
questions. The Americans named Henry Churchill 
King, president of Oberlin College; Charles R. Crane, 
who represented President Wilson in a diplomatic mis- 
sion to Russia in 1917 and was treasurer of the Ameri- 
can committee for Armenian and Syrian relief; Pro- 
fessor Albert Howe Lybyer of the University of Illinois ; 
Professor George, Redington Montgomery of New York 
University, who was special assistant to the American 
ambassador in Constantinople in 1916; and Captain 
William Yale. The British named Sir Henry McMa- 
hon, a student of Indian and Egyptian affairs, and 
Commander D. G. Hogarth, a scholar well versed in 
the problems of the near East. 

The appointment of the commission was not regarded 
with a great deal of enthusiasm in American or British 
circles, for it was not at all certain that these men 
would present a unanimous report ; and if they did, it 
might not be approved by the conference even then. 
Experts had made investigations before, had reported, 



THE rOUETEElSr POINTS 135 

and had seen their reports thrown out. A thorough in- 
quiry might take many months. But the delegates to 
the Peace Conference felt that it would be months before 
they got around to the treaty with Turkey, and the com- 
mission might well employ the time available till then. 
The departure of the international commission was de- 
layed, however, and finally there was left only the Amer- 
ican body, which inaugurated a series of hearings 
throughout Asia Minor and during the summer amassed 
a vast amount of information. It returned to Paris the 
latter part of August convinced that the United States 
should accept a mandate in Asia Minor. 

So much for the Emir Eeisal and the picturesque rise 
to power of the King of the Hedjaz. His case having 
been presented, the emir sailed for home. But he did 
not forget to send a worthy gift for the hospitality he 
had enjoyed. On June 4 it was reported that a new 
Arabian mission, composed of Arab officers and notables, 
had embarked on a Erench cruiser for Marseilles. At 
the head of the mission was General Noury Said Pacha, 
chief of staff for the Emir Eeisal and well known in 
Paris. Among his effects the general carried sixteen 
blooded Arabian steeds, the gift of the King of the 
Hedjaz, through the Emir Eeisal, to his excellency, the 
President of the Erench republic. Colonel Lawrence 
had gained the consent of the British and hoped to win 
the Americans to his point of view. Was it likely that 
the sixteen blooded Arabian steeds of General Noury 
Said Pacha might help win a favorable opinion from 
the one great power that remained to be appeased ? 



CHAPTER IX 

The story of a little town called Fiume, and how the amazing 
unanimity with which all parties concerned applied the Fourteen 
Points almost disrupted the Peace Conference. 

If you walked rapidly along the Boulevard des 
Capucines from the Place de I'Opera to the Madeleine, 
you might never notice the Rue Edouard Sept. A 
most unostentatious street it is, gliding quietly out of 
the boulevard at the first turning beyond the Rue 
Scribe; and yet, had you walked here on the day of 
which I am going to speak, you might have been struck 
by the unusual activity manifested here. Large closed 
limousines passed in and out ; a messenger on a bicycle 
hurried down the rue; a uniformed functionnaire from 
some bureau or other arrived with formal-looking en- 
velopes ; a man dragged a mail-bag along the walk, and 
disappeared around the bend. You were prompted to 
follow. The windows of an art shop halted you for a 
moment; you glanced at the tempting display of mag- 
nificent colored engravings, at the work of Poulbot, 
Jonas, and Hansi. Then you passed on, and scarce 
three hundred yards beyond the rue lost itself in a sort 
of arcaded circle of buildings that constitute the Hotel 
Edouard Sept, and there, in the center of the circle, 
you found the large equestrian statue of King Edward 
VII, from which both the rue and the hotel take the 
name. 

136 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 137 

Two soldiers in "uniforms of olive-green were on 
guard before the hotel. Above the entrance flew the 
flag of the House of Savoy. The soldiers nod infor- 
mally, and you pass into the hotel, and here, for the pe- 
riod of the Peace Conference at least, you stand upon 
the domain of Italy. 

Paris has faded away; in this cul-de-sac you do not 
even hear the steady, drumming noise of the big motor- 
busses that run from the Bastille to the Madeleine; no 
maniacal tooting of motor-horns annoys you, no ringing 
laughter of a group of American doughboys on leave 
comes to your ears. This might be Rome. The very 
atmosphere of this reception-hall is like that in one of 
the quiet hostelries round about the Pincio or on the 
Via Nazionale. The man in the Prince Albert who 
comes forward to take your name is assuredly direct 
from, Italy; the placards on the walls are Italian; on 
the tables in the lounge just beyond lie the " Tribuna,'' 
the " Stampa," and the ^' Corriere della Sera " ; and 
there is wine of Italy, too, in the straw-covered bottles 
in the refectory just behind the lounge. 

Here sooner or later one touches elbows with that 
numerous host which is representing the Italian cause 
at the Peace Conference, for this is Italy's stamping- 
ground. Here one may meet, first, the men of the 
Italian delegation, including Vittoria Orlando, prime 
minister, at its head ; then Baron Sidney Sonnino, min- 
ister of foreign affairs, and regarded by many as the 
guiding hand in Italian statecraft ; the shrewd, prac- 
tised, and powerful son of a Jewish father and a Scotch 
mother; then the Marquis Salvage Baggi; Salvatore 



138 THE ADVENTUEES OF 

Barzilai, and Antonio Salandra, former prime minister 
of Italy. Here also come General Diaz, commander- 
in-chief of the armies of Italy; General di Robilant; 
Count Bonin Langare, Italian ambassador to Erance; 
the Marquis Imperiali, Italian ambassador to the Court 
of St. James's ; Count di Cellere, Italian ambassador to 
the United States ; and Signer Crespi, minister of food 
supplies and distribution, a notable group of men, who 
have written their names in indelible ink on many a 
page of the history of the conference. 

At this particular time our favorite captain has ar- 
ranged a meeting with Signer Orlando for a limited 
group of American writers. You should know our cap- 
tain — a tall, powerful figure, with large, broad shoul- 
ders and a big, well-modeled head ; a man who, you say, 
would make a fine hero for grand opera. Indeed he 
was, not many years ago, singing in grand opera in Kew 
York and Chicago. Later he answered the call of his 
native land, and fought in the mountain fastnesses be- 
yond the Isonzo, and now he is officer of liaison between 
the Italian delegation and the American press, for Italy 
knows well the need and the value of illuminating prop- 
aganda. Too well, in fact, for I could paper the walls 
of a large-sized room with the gaily colored maps of the 
New Italy that have come to me since the conference 
began. 

Our small group is nearly complete. The captain 
comes in, wheels about, and looks at his watch. 

" Six o'clock, and two men missing ! And I said a 
quarter to six, five forty-five precisely! And he is 
waiting for us up-stairs! I can't think of it! He 



THE rOUETEEN POINTS 139 

must not be kept waiting ! I will call it off ; I will tell 
hhn — "" 

The stragglers arrive, and the captain is appeased. 
We mount the stairs, two steps at a time. We hurry 
down the velvet-carpeted corridors. The door opens. 
Ah, he is there ! 

I suppose that in the United States we would regard 
Signer Orlando as looking much like a prosperous, se- 
date business man, a successful man who has not wor- 
ried too much, who has had time to put on a bit of 
avoirdupois, who can sit back and finger his watch- 
chain, and smile, and nod that wonderfully fine head 
of his, and assume a complacent, satisfied air — and 
make you feel complacent and at home, also. 

That is the way Signer Orlando looked, and that is 
exactly opposite from the way Signer Orlando felt, for 
at the moment when we came to talk with him he was 
sitting on a cushion of needles. His cause had met 
formidable opposition in the conference; there were 
men in Paris crying " Imperialism ! " and there were 
men in Kome crying " Do something ! " and yet here 
was Signer Orlando, torn between two policies, sitting 
here before us, smiling blandly, and speaking of the 
excellent ties that bind the Italian and the American 
people. That is why Signer Orlando is a diplomat. 

Por fully thirty minutes the minister spoke on Italo- 
American amity, and then some one asked him the ques- 
tion that was uppermost in the minds of all of us, and 
in the minds of the people of Paris and Rome and all 
the world that was watching the subtle manoeuvers of 
the diplomats at the Peace Conference : 



140 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

" Will Italy give up her claims to Eiume ? '^ 

" 'No. Absolutely no." And the smile faded, and 
the lips of the minister became firmly compressed. 

" Will Italy compromise on some of her claims under 
the treaty of London ? " 

" No. The treaty of London is a compromise. The 
claims of Italy were recognized as just by her allies, 
who signed the treaty and who will stand by their word. 
Triest and Gorizia are guaranteed by the treaty, and 
Eiume must be ours, for Eiume is Italian." 

Triest, Gorizia, Eiume — words that unlocked hid- 
den chambers in one's memory, that called up images 
hidden away through the years. Immediately there 
came to me the picture of the mellow Italian sky, and 
the purple waters of the bay of Genoa beating them- 
selves into long lines of white foam on the rocky Li- 
gurian coast. A great heap of bronze rising against the 
sky-line — the memorial to the Thousand of Garibaldi 
who sailed from Quarto. And before the monument a 
wreath, and a wide placard, with but one name — 
Triest! And then the picture of a little town on the 
Riviera, a street of drooping shade trees on a smiling 
morning in the spring of 1915, and two troubadours 
walking aimlessly about, strumming their guitars, and 
singing melodiously of the lost lands and the unredeemed 
brothers of Triest, Gorizia, and Eiume. 

^^ We stand," continued the minister, " wholly upon 
our claims, which were found just in the treaty of Lon- 
don, and which, moreover, we base upon the principles 
of President Wilson." 

The secret treaty and the Fourteen Points, both guar- 



THE FOURTEEA^ POINTS 141 

anteeing the claims of Italy! Let us read again what 
President Wilson said : 

Point 9. A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be 
effected along clearly recognizable lines of nationality. 

Point 10. The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place among 
the nations we wish to see safeguarded and assured, should be 
accorded the freest opportunity of autonomous development. 

Point 11. Rumania, Serbia and Montenegro should be evac- 
uated; occupied territories restored; Serbia accorded free and 
secure access to the sea; and the relations of the several Balkan 
states to one another determined by friendly counsel along his- 
torically established lines of allegiance and nationality; and in- 
ternational guarantees of the political and economic independence 
and territorial integrity of the several Balkan states should be 
entered into. 

These three points are involved. It is because 
Italy's claims touch upon the territory of the former 
Austro-Hungarian monarchy, and upon land properly 
comprised within the domain of the nations on the east- 
ern coast of the Adriatic, that I give the points which 
ostensibly deal only with the Balkan peoples. For this 
is the crux of the matter. Italy's claims were being 
opposed by those very peoples — by Jugo Slavia, or 
rather, as it formally styles itself now, the Kingdom of 
the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, and between Italy and 
the Jugo Slavs the matter had passed from the stage 
of friendly negotiation and become a controversy. 

There are available to-day yards of maps, whole 
kilometers of maps. There are tons and tons of leaf- 
lets, pamphlets, books, copies of documents. There are 
statistics to prove any contention you wish to support. 
There are hand-books that will provide you with argu- 
ments on any subject, as if this were an American 
political campaign. There is everything except the as- 



142 THE ADVENTUEES OF 

surance that the problem of the Adriatic will be settled 
so as to avoid a future recurrence of war. 

What are Italy's claims? That must be the first 
question. 

It is illuminating to consider what Italy's claims 
have been in comparison with what they are to-day, for 
Italy's attempt to occupy her unredeemed provinces and 
other lands along the Adriatic has passed through three 
stages. The first stage was that of negotiation between 
Austria and Italy, before Italy joined the Allies in the 
war. The second was that of negotiation between Italy 
and the Allies, which resulted in a secret agreement 
being signed, as a result of which Italy went to war. 
The third is that of Italy's fight before the Peace Con- 
ference for the land promised in the treaty — and a 
little bit more. In each instance, we find, Italy^s 
claims grew in size. 

Lord Bryce explained recently that in 1915 Austria 
offered Italy the Italian-speaking districts of the Tren- 
tino and those parts of the Tyrol which had an Italian- 
speaking population, up to a point about twenty miles 
south of Botzen, which was the boundary between the 
Italian and German languages, and had been so since 
the eighth century. Lord Bryce said : 

Italy refused this offer, demanding a frontier somewhat far- 
ther north, which would have given her not only all the Italian- 
speaking population, but also a few German-speaking districts, 
including the town of Botzen, whose population is about two- 
thirds German-speaking, and the valley of the River Adige as 
far north as the strategic position of Klausen, between Botzen 
and Brixen, where the Brenner highroad and the railway de- 
scend through a narrow gorge that forms the most defensible 



THE FOURTEEI^ POINTS 143 

point of that great line of communication from north to south. 
Austria refused this, and the negotiations were broken off. 

Italy then began her negotiations with the Allies. 
She would enter the war on their side if she could win 
back her unredeemed provinces in that way. Her de- 
mands resulted in the signing of an agreement — what 
we now call the secret treaty or the pact of London on 
April 26j 1915, approximately one month before she 
declared war on Austria-Hungary. It was signed by 
the Marquis Imperiali for Italy, Count Benckendorf for 
Eussia, M. Jules Cambon for France, and Sir Edward 
Grey for England. It conveys to Italy considerable 
more territory than the unredeemed provinces, or dis- 
tricts that are purely Italian. Without attempting to 
cover all the ground mentioned in this treaty, it might 
be said here that it gave Italy the district of Trentino ; 
the entire southern Tyrol to its natural geographical 
boundary, the Brenner; the city and suburbs of Triest, 
Gorizia, and Gradisca; all of Istria to Quarnero, in- 
cluding Volosko and the Istrian islands of Cherso and 
Lussin ; the province of Dalmatia, including within its 
limits Lissariki and Trebino and all the valleys of all 
the rivers flowing into the sea at Sebenico, with all their 
branches ; a large number of islands in the Adriatic off 
the coast of Dalmatia ; then " in full right " Avlona, or 
Valona, and a great many other concessions which will 
be named as they become subject matter for negotiation. 

Between the time that this treaty was signed and the 
armistice of November 11, 1918, Italy's demands grew 
still larger. When the Austro-Hungarian monarchy 
crumbled, Italy's troops advanced into Austrian terri- 



144 THE ADVENTUKES OE 

tory and occupied the lands outlined in the secret treaty. 
Read again the armistice terms with Austria-Hungary. 
Almost word for word they follow the language of the 
secret treaty on the subject of boundary-lines. More- 
over, Italian troops occupied districts clearly not men- 
tioned in the treaty. And Italy laid claim to these 
and other parts of the former monarchy on the grounds 
of their Italianity. And first and foremost Italy laid 
claim to Fiume, on the ground of self-determination of 
nationalities, for Fiume had almost unanimously voted 
to join the Italian kingdom. 

It is a fascinating tale, this story of Eiume. A small 
town of fewer than fifty thousand inhabitants, it has be- 
come for Italy the symbol of Italian unity. Italy wants 
it because it is Italian ; the Jugo Slavs want it because 
it is the best seaport of the great Croatian hinterland, 
and because, they assert, it is not purely Italian. The 
American President, through six months of fruitless 
negotiation, contended that Fiume shall be the nucleus 
of a free state. 

Eiume was located at the convergence of many roads, 
and became a city even in Eoman days. In 1471 it 
passed under Hapsburg rule, and in 1779 was united 
to Hungary, but given autonomous rights as a corpus 
separatum, or separate body, by the Empress Maria 
Theresa. There is excellent historic authority for the 
statement that through a long series of years Eiume 
fought the Croatian influences. Eiume passed through 
a period of l^apoleonic rule, and from 1813 to 1822 
was administered by Austria direct. It then passed 
back to Hungary. During the Eevolution of 1848 the 



THE rOUETEE:^r POINTS 145 

Croats under Ban Jelacie occupied Fiume and held it 
until 1869; then it received its constitutional liberty 
in the Ausgleich and went back to Hungary. 

Now begins the new story of Eiume. On October 
18, 1918, Andrea Ossoinack, deputy for Fiume in the 
Hungarian Parliament, rose and declared that in view 
of reports that Fiume was to be handed over to the 
Croats, he wished to make the following declaration: 

Austria-Hungary having admitted the principle of self-de- 
termination in her peace proposals, Fiume, as a corptis separatum 
claims that right for itself. In accordance with this right it 
wishes to exercise, without any kind of hindrance, the right of 
self-determination of the people. 

In his introduction the deputy said, " Fiume has not 
only never been Croat, but has, on the contrary, al- 
ways been Italian in the past and must remain Italian 
in the future." 

On October 30, 1918, the Italian National Council 
of Fiume issued the following proclamation : 

The Italian National Council of Fiume, meeting this day in 
plenary session, declares that, by force of the right by which all 
peoples have acquired national independence and liberty, the city 
of Fiume, which has been up to now a corpus separatum con- 
stituting a national Italian commune, claims for itself the right 
of self-determination by the people. 

Relying upon this ground, the National Council of Fiume pro- 
claims the union of Fiume to its fatherland, Italy. 

The Italian National Council considers the state of affairs 
brought about on October 29, 1918, as temporary, places its 
rights under the protection of America, mother of liberty and 
universal democracy, and awaits their sanction by the Peace 
Congress. 

Childlike is the simple faith of the Fiumians ! They 
place it in America, which has labored most deter- 



146 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

minedly to keep the boundary-lines of Italy from inclos- 
ing Fiume. 

The next document on the Italian side of the ques- 
tion is a memorandum presented to the Peace Confer- 
ence by the president of the Italian National Council 
of Fiume, Dr. Antonio Grossich; the mayor, Dr. An- 
tonio Vio ; and the deputy, Andrea Ossoinach. It sets 
forth that Fiume solemnly proclaimed its annexation to 
Italy by a plebiscite; that Fiume regained her right 
freely to decide her own destiny upon the collapse of 
Hungary; that Italian is the language of commercial 
intercourse in Fiume, and that all the syndics, deputies, 
municipalities, and municipal councils have always been 
Italian; that the commerce of Croatia was only seven 
per cent, of the total, the rest being that of Hungary 
and other countries of the hinterland; that the traffic 
from Croatia, Slovenia, Dalmatia, Bosnia, and Herze- 
govina was only thirteen per cent, of the total from 
those countries, which sent eighty-seven per cent, 
through the Dalmatian ports; that Fiume should be 
proclaimed a free port, for the use of all countries of 
the hinterland rather than the Jugo Slavs alone, if 
freedom of commercial intercourse is to be granted all 
countries of the hinterland ; and that if Fiume is made 
an Italian port, Italy can, at minimum expenditure, in- 
sure to it the necessary maritime connections with ex- 
tensive shipping services, whereas in the hands of the 
Jugo Slavs it would fall into decay. As both Hungary 
and Jugo Slavia are agricultural states, a competition 
for foreign markets would certainly arise between these 
two states. " The possession of Fiume by the Jugo 



THE FOUETEEN POINTS 147 

Slavs might induce them to adopt toward Hungary the 
same economic policy Hungary used toward Serbia, 
with grave prejudice and danger to the peace of Eu- 
rope." Italy, said the memorandum, would not dis- 
criminate. 

The representatives of Eiume also objected to the 
idea that the city should be annexed to Jugo Slavia 
with certain definite guaranties and privileges to the 
Italians, which they declared to be illogical and imprac- 
ticable, as the nationality of a country could not be 
guaranteed by international treaties or by any special 
prerogatives of autonomy when it was known that the 
state which granted them would not respect them. 

And then it rained figures. Statistics of all kinds, 
Italian, Eiumian, Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian, Hun- 
garian, German, flooded the mails of the delegates to 
the Peace Conference. It soon developed that many 
of the statistics were accurate, but that the territory 
they represented was another matter. And it also de- 
veloped that the location of the boundaries of Fiume 
was to have a great deal to do with the decision of the 
conference itself. 

^^ Eiume has 46,264 inhabitants," said the Italians. 
" We took an honest census immediately after occupa- 
tion. According to nationality, the Italians are 62.5 
per cent, of the whole, the rest being Croats, Slovenes, 
Serbs, Hungarians, and Germans. In the town district 
90 per cent, of the Italians are native-born." 

" But Fiume cannot be considered without its urban 
area," said the Jugo Slavs. " Sussak is inseparable 
from Fiume, and is inhabited entirely by Croats, The 



148 THE ADVENT UKES OF 

population of Fiume and Sussak is 62,989, of which 
number 27,393 are Jugo Slavs and 24,870 are Ital- 
ians." 

" The Jugo Slavs in their statistics are not including 
purely the village of Sussak, but the entire district of 
Sussak to Buccari, seven miles from Flume's eastern 
boundary/' say the Italians. " The district has five 
administrative sub-communes, and the village of Sussak 
is only a section of one sub-commune, with 5,539 in- 
habitants, of which only 3,871 are Slavs." 

^^ The ^National Council of Fiume," say the Jugo 
Slavs, ^' is a self-constituted Italian committee in op- 
position to the provisional Jugo Slav government of 
Fiume." 

" The N^ational Council has been recognized by the 
Peace Conference," reply the Italians, '^ and the for- 
mer deputy, Ossoinach, has been received in the ca- 
pacity of its representative by President Wilson. The 
provisional Jugo Slav government for the city has never 
existed." 

As controversial statements of this character have 
been repeated manifold in the course of the Peace Con- 
ference, the presence of gray hairs among the* delegates 
is not to be wondered at. 

President Wilson came to Paris hoping for an hon- 
est application of the principles contained within the 
Fourteen Points to the problems of the Adriatic. He 
was in sympathy with the return of the unredeemed 
provinces to Italy. He found the Italian claims in the 
Trentino just and logical. He felt that the safety of 
Italy should not be jeopardized by allowing a rival naval 



THE FOUETEEIsr POINTS 149 

power to grow up in the Adriatic. He wanted to apply 
his principle of self-determination of nationalities. 
But he was opposed to shutting off a growing, indus- 
trious people from the sea simply because the coast- 
line was dotted with settlements having largely another 
national character from that of the great hinterland 
which had to use that coast-line. It was, truly, a ques- 
tion of national self-determination, but it was also a 
question of economic justice. 

President Wilson faced for the first time the fact 
that a hard-and-fast rule cannot always be applied with 
justice to all men. He had to decide between the hinter- 
land and the coast-line. He saw the finest ports of the 
Adriatic fall into the possession of Italy. He was will- 
ing that Triest and Pola should become Italian, and he 
made no objection to the Italian naval base at Avlona, 
a position of strategic importance to Italy. He felt 
also that the islands of the Adriatic should not be al- 
lowed to harbor fleets or armaments which might be- 
come hostile to Italy ; but when it came to the great 
Slav territories, such as Dalmatia, eastern Istria, and 
the islands inhabited for the most part by Slavs, he 
thought that here Italy, by the very fact that she made 
her plea on the basis of nationality, should not exercise 
the rights of sovereignty. 

The President had his first conversation with Signer 
Orlando in Paris on January 9, 1919. President Wil- 
son outlined his idea of how far the Italian boundaries 
should go. He drew a line through the Istrian penin- 
sula, giving the Eiume-San Pietro-Laibach railway to 
the Jugo Slavs. He felt that giving Fiume as well as 



150 THE ADVEISTTURES OF 

Triest to Italy would give Italy a monopoly of the up- 
per Adriatic. Hence, though he recognized the claim 
of nationality in Eiume, he felt that this should be 
subordinated to economic needs and given to the Jugo 
Slavs. Signor Orlando refused to consider these bound- 
aries. He said that if the Jugo Slavs gained eastern 
Istria, they would seek to extend their boundaries be- 
yond Triest and Pola as well. The line drawn by 
President Wilson brought Pola within gun-range. 

A second conversation, without result, took place on 
February 26 between the President and Signor Or- 
lando. On the same day it became known that Dr. 
Ante Trumbitch, foreign minister for the Kingdom of 
the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, had asked President 
Wilson to arbitrate the dispute between Italy and the 
Jugo Slavs. The request was read before the confer- 
ence at the instance of Dr. Trumbitch by M. Clemen- 
ceau on February 11, and was as follows: 

Mr. President: 

The delegation of the kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes 
at the Peace Conference has the honor to communicate to your 
excellency that, having full faith in the spirit of justice of Wood- 
row Wilson, President of the United States of America, and 
being fully authorized to this end by the royal government, it is 
ready to submit to the arbitration of President Wilson the ter- 
ritorial controversy between the Serb-Croat-Slovene Kingdom 
and the Kingdom of Italy. It prays your Excellency to take 
cognizance of this fact and communicate same to the Conference. 
A similar communication has been made to His Excellency the 
President of the United States. 

Pachitch 

Trumbitch 

Veskitch 

ZOLOOB 



THE FOUETEEN POINTS 151 

Baron Sonnino made the following statement on be- 
half of the Italian delegation : 

Following the communication made to us by our president I 
consider it my duty to declare that the Italian Government is 
sorry to be absolutely unable to accept any proposal for arbitra- 
tion on questions for the settlement of which Italy, in full agree- 
ment with her allies, has for three and a half years sustained a 
hard war and which have been actually submitted to the Confer- 
ence for examination. 

President Wilson politely refused to accept the office 
of arbiter. The action of the Jugo Slavs produced an 
excellent impression, although President Wilson should 
not have been suggested by them, as his views were al- 
ready known. Italy's refusal to arbitrate cannot 
properly be censured, for it was the Peace Conference, 
and not any one person, that should settle the dispute, 
as it was settling others. 

A statement by Secretary Lansing to Dr. Trumbitch 
on the interest of the United States in the Kingdom of 
the Jugo Slavs was made public on February 8. It 
caused considerable comment, because it was evidently 
a manifestation of American friendship and sympathy 
for the Jugo Slavs, and coming at this time it seemed to 
emphasize this fact as against the Italian point of view. 
The statement was regarded in many quarters as offi- 
cial recognition by the United States of the Kingdom of 
the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. It read : 

On May 29, 1918, the Government of the United States ex- 
pressed its sympathy for the national aspirations of the Jugo 
Slav races and on June 28 declared that all branches of the Slavs 
should be completely freed from German and Austrian rule. 
After having achieved their freedom from foreign oppression, 
the Jugo Slavs formerly under Austro-Hungarian rule have, on 



152 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

various occasions, expressed the desire to unite with the kingdom 
of Serbia. The Serbian Government, on its part, has publicly 
and officially accepted the union with the Serb-Croat-Slovene 
peoples. 

The Government of the United States therefore welcomes this 
union, while recognizing that the final settlement of territorial 
frontiers must be left to the Peace Conference for determination 
according to the desires of the peoples concerned. 

Ostensibly this ^^ recognition " did not settle the 
vexed question of whether Serbia had swallowed Mont- 
enegro willy-nilly, or whether Montenegro was still to 
have another opportunity to express its desire for inde- 
pendence or annexation to Serbia. Nor did this throw 
any light on the dispute with Italy over frontiers. 

President Wilson made his first trip to the United 
States and returned without a settlement having been 
reached. On April 3 the subject was taken up again 
by the conference, and the President supported his plan 
of having Fiume made a free city under the League of 
Nations. He was willing to give Lissa to Italy for 
strategic reasons, but did not favor letting Italy have 
sovereignty over the great numbers of Slavs of Dal- 
matia, although he wished certain guaranties of au- 
tonomous rights to be given communities that were pre- 
ponderatingly Italian. As the discussions now con- 
tinued, they became more and more provocative of 
heated debates in unofficial circles. President Wilson 
consulted his experts on the subject of the situation in 
the Jugo Slav territories, and these are supposed to 
have given him information that confirmed his point of 
view. The Italians began to see more and more that 
the President would remain firm in his determination 
not to give Eiume to Italy. It was also reported that 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 153 

Mr. Lloyd George was ready to stand by the secret 
treaty, but that he did not feel called upon to support 
the whole set of Italian claims, with Fiume in addition 
to the treaty. The advice of the Northcliffe press, un- 
der the leadership of Mr. Wickham Steed, that Italy 
should renounce Fiume and some of her claims in 
Dalmatia caused much disapproval and a great deal 
of caustic criticism in Italy, where newspapers declared 
that English shipping concerns were vitally interested 
in the port of Fiume and expected to enter into strong 
competition for the trade of the hinterland with the 
Italian lines running from Triest. In fact, economic 
arguments were constantly being advanced as bearing 
on the settlement, and one of the favorite cries of the 
Jugo Slavs was that if Italy acquired Fiume, this port 
would be allowed to dwindle in importance for the bene- 
fit of Triest. 

The issue was apparently wholly between President 
Wilson and Signer Orlando, and both men were firmly 
set in their points of view. The situation became more 
and more awkward. Outside the Peace Conference cir- 
cle the Jugo Slavs and the Italians indulged in a most 
disturbing game of hurling charges and counter-charges 
against each other. From the propaganda bureau of 
the Jugo Slavs at 17 Rue Cadet, far from the center 
of Conference activities, issued an amazing series of 
reports, declaring that the Italian occupying troops had 
committed serious breaches of the peace in purely Jugo 
Slav cities, forbidding national demonstrations, and 
getting into clashes with the municipalities. The 
Italians issued similar reports, alleging outrages against 



154 THE ADVEKTUBES OF 

the Italian troops. It is not intended here to sift the 
truth in these charges, but merely to indicate the state 
of things in Paris. In the midst of this situation it 
was decided that the Germans should be invited to come 
to Versailles. The Italian delegation opposed this no- 
tification on the ground that Italy's claims should be 
settled first. E^evertheless, President Wilson made the 
announcement that the Germans should come April 25. 
The Council of Pour and the members of the confer- 
ence fully expected a solution of the Italian question 
before that time. 

But matters did not mend. Conversations continued, 
but the two men who had to decide the issue remained 
unmoved. On April 23 an unofficial statement was issued 
at the American headquarters in the Hotel de Crillon 
which reviewed the American point of view in the con- 
troversy. It explained President Wilson's attitude in 
the light of the Pourteen Points. The point which said 
that " a readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should 
be effected along clearly recognized lines of nationality," 
covered the long-expressed aspirations of the Italian 
people, and should be considered at the same time as 
wholly consistent with the two other generally accepted 
principles that ^^ every territorial settlement involved 
in this war must be made in the interest and for the 
benefit of the populations concerned, and not as a part 
of any mere adjustment or compromise of claims among 
rival states," and " that all well-defined national as- 
pirations shall be accorded the utmost satisfaction that 
can be accorded them, without introducing new or per- 
petuating old elements of discord and antagonism that 



THE FOUETEE]^^ POINTS 155 

would be likely, in time, to break the peace of Europe 
and consequently of the world," and finally that Serbia 
should be " accorded free and secure access to the sea." 
By the application of these principles Italy gained 400,- 
000 Italians in southern Tyrol and a strategic frontier 
along the Alps ; Triest, Monfalcone, Gradisca, Gorizia, 
Pola, and the Isonzo valley, a territory with 300,000 
Jugo Slavs, — " only slightly less numerous than the 
Italians," — but whose rights had to be subordinated 
to those of the Italians. Eiume, it was explained, was 
a small city surrounded by a preponderant Jugo Slav 
population. For Italy Eiume had almost no commer- 
cial significance in the past, as in 1913 Italy brought 
through Eiume only 1,000 out of 1,300,000 tons of 
imports, and exported from Eiume less than 2,000 tons 
out of the city's total export of over 600,000 tons. Eor 
the Jugo Slavs, however, it was a different matter. 
Blocked by mountains is the great plain of the newer 
part of Jugo Slavia, the home of 8,000,000 people, 
whose only outlet is by going around the narrow north- 
em part of the mountain-range through Eiume to the 
Adriatic. Passage through the mountains themselves 
is most difficult, for they broaden as they go south, and 
communication is confined to narrow-gage roads, one 
having 130 tunnels in fewer than sixty miles. As a 
Jugo-Slav outlet, Eiume would become a port for south 
central Europe as a companion to Triest. As for the 
Dalmatian coast-line, America was willing to give Italy 
naval protection, but could not see the justice of forc- 
ing an alien population, which is nearly ninety-six per 
cent. Jugo Slav, under another flag. 



156 THE ADVENTUEES OF 

Amplifying this statement is a memorandum which 
President Wilson gave to Signer Orlando on April 14, 
with permission to make it public in Italy. It is too 
long to repeat here, but the essentials are these; Presi- 
dent Wilson is willing to give Italy all that the treaty 
of London gives with regard to her Alpine frontiers, but 
not all of Istria or Fiume. He believes Fiume should 
be an international port, " with a very considerable 
degree of genuine autonomy," but included in the cus- 
toms system of Jugo Slavia. He also agrees to the 
cession of Lissa, the retention of Avlona, the disman- 
tling of the forts on the eastern side of the Adriatic, 
and the stipulation that the powers along that coast 
shall possess only minor naval forces sufficient for police 
duty. 

Signer Orlando said of this memorandum, in an ad- 
dress before the Italian Chamber and the Senate in 
Eome on April 28 : 

Inasmuch as that memorandum denied Italy any right over 
Dalmatia and the isles, accorded but an incomplete liberty to 
Fiume, and even went so far as to break up the unity of Istria, 
I could not hesitate, and I told Mr. Wilson that it was absolutely 
impossible for me to agree to peace on the conditions indicated, 
which gave us satisfaction on none of those three essential points. 
I added that in such conditions the delegation could not continue 
conversations which were devoid of any acceptable basis, and 
that I reserved to myself the right, before taking any more radi- 
cal decision, to place myself in communication with the repre- 
sentatives of the allied powers to which Italy was bound by spe- 
cial relations. 

President Wilson very warmly expressed his regrets at this 
hypothesis, adding that he would do whatever was possible to 
avert it, and to that end he thought it would be opportune and 
advantageous for the two allied powers, France and Great Britain, 
to set to work to seek some means of conciliation, while, for his 
part, he would have the questions at issue examined afresh by his 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 157 

experts to see if, and what, further concessions could be made to 
Italian aspirations. 

On the afternoon of April 23 President Wilson pub- 
lished a statement on the Italian claims which was re- 
garded as an appeal to the Italian people over the heads 
of their delegation and their Government. The Presi- 
dent had spoken of making such a declaration several 
days before, but when it came, it descended upon the 
conference like a thunderbolt. Eor the moment all 
other issues were forgotten. So sharp was the reaction 
of the Italian delegation that it looked as if the break-up 
of the conference were at hand. 

In the history of the Peace Conference this appeal 
will always stand out as marking a turning-point in 
diplomatic procedure. It will become one of the great 
papers of the conference ; it will be consulted again and 
again not alone for its content, but for the moment that 
gave it birth and for the influence that it subsequently 
had upon the whole subject of Italian expansion on the 
east coast of the Adriatic. I therefore give the docu- 
ment in full : 

In view of the capital importance of the questions affected, and 
in order to throw all possible light upon what is involved in 
their settlement, I hope that the following statement will con- 
tribute to the final formation of opinion and to a satisfactory 
solution. 

When Italy entered the war, she entered upon the basis of a 
definite, but private, understanding with Great Britain and 
France, now known as the pact of London. Since that time the 
whole face of circumstances has been altered. Many other 
powers, great and small, have entered the struggle with no knowl- 
edge of that private understanding. The Austro-Hungarian em- 
pire, then the enemy of Europe, and at whose expense the pact 
of London was to be kept in the event of victory, has gone to 



158 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

pieces and no longer exists. Not only that. The several parts of 
the empire, it is now agreed by Italy and all her associates, are 
to be erected into independent states and associated in a League 
of Nations, not with those who were recently our enemies, but 
with Italy herself and the powers that stood with Italy in the 
great war for liberty. We are to establish their liberty as well 
as our own. They are to be among the smaller states whose in- 
terests are henceforth to be as scrupulously safe-guarded as the 
interests of the most powerful states. 

The war was ended, moreover, by proposing to Germany an 
armistice and peace which should be founded on certain clearly 
defined principles which would set up a new order of right and 
justice. 

Upon those principles the peace with Germany has been not 
only conceived but formulated. Upon those principles it will be 
executed. We cannot ask the great body of powers to propose and 
effect peace with Austria and establish a new basis of independ- 
ence and right in the states which originally constituted the Aus- 
tro-Hungarian empire, and in the states of the Balkan group, on 
principles of another kind. We must apply the same principles 
to the settlement of Europe in these quarters that we have ap- 
plied in the peace with Germany. It was upon the explicit avowal 
of these principles that the initiative for peace was taken. It 
is upon them that the whole structure of peace must rest. 

If those principles are to be adhered to, Fiume must serve as 
the outlet and inlet of the commerce, not of Italy, but of the 
lands to the north and northeast of that port — Hungary, Bo- 
hemia, Rumania and the states of the new Jugo Slavic group. 
To assign Fiume to Italy would be to create the feeling that we 
had deliberately put the port upon which all these countries 
chiefly depend for their access to the Mediterranean in the hands 
of a power of which it did not form an integral part, and whose 
sovereignty, if set up there, must inevitably seem foreign, not 
domestic, nor identified with the commercial and industrial life 
of the region which the port must serve. 

It is for that reason, no doubt, that Fiume was not included 
in the pact of London, but was there definitely assigned to the 
Croatians. 

And the reason why the lines of the pact of London swept 
about many of the islands of the eastern coast of the Adriatic 
and around the portion of the Dalmatian coast which lies most 
open to that sea was not only that here and there on those islands, 
and here and there on that coast, there are bodies of people of 
Italian blood and connexion, but also, and no doubt chiefly, be- 
cause it was felt that it was necessary for Italy to have a foot- 



THE rOUKTEEN POINTS 159 

hold amidst the channels of the eastern Adriatic, in order that 
she might make her own coasts safe against the naval aggression 
of Austria-Hungary. 

But Austria-Hungary no longer exists. It is proposed that 
the fortifications which the Austrian government constructed 
there shall be razed and permanently destroyed. It is part, also, 
of the new plan of European order which centers in the League 
of Nations, that the new states erected there shall accept a limi- 
tation of armaments which puts aggression out of the question. 
There can be no fear of the unfair treatment of groups of Italian 
people there, because adequate guarantees will be given, under 
international sanction, of the equal and equitable treatment of all 
racial and national minorities. 

In brief, every question associated with this settlement wears 
a new aspect — a new aspect given it by the very victory for 
right, for which Italy has made the supreme sacrifice of blood 
and treasure. Italy, along with the four other great powers, has 
become one of the chief trustees of the new order which she has 
played so honorable a part in establishing. 

And on the north and northeast her natural frontiers are com- 
pletely restored, along the whole sweep of the Alps from north- 
west to southeast, to the very end of the Istrian peninsula, includ- 
ing all the great watershed within which Trieste and Pola lie, and 
all the fair regions whose face nature has turned toward the 
great peninsula on which the historic life of the Latin people 
has been worked out through centuries of famous story, ever 
since Rome was first set upon her seven hills. The ancient unity 
is restored. Her lines are extended to the great walls which are 
her natural defense. It is within her choice to be surrounded 
by friends; to exhibit to the newly liberated peoples across the 
Adriatic that noblest quality of greatness, magnanimity, friendly 
generosity, the preference of justice over interest. 

The nations associated with her, the nations that know noth- 
ing of the pact of London or of any other special understanding 
that lies at the beginning of this great struggle, and who have 
made their supreme sacrifice also in the interest, not of national 
advantage or defense, but of the settled peace of the world, now 
unite with her older associates in urging her to assume a leader- 
ship which cannot be mistaken in the new order of Europe. 
America is Italy's friend. Her people are drawn, millions strong, 
from Italy's own fair country sides. She is linked in blood as 
well as in affection with the Italian people. 

Such ties can never be broken, and America was privileged, by 
the generous commission of her associates in the war, to initiate 
the peace we are about to consummate, to initiate it upon terms 



160 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

she had herself formulated and in which I was her spokesman. 
The compulsion is upon her to square every decision she takes a 
part in with those principles. She can do nothing else. She 
trusts Italy, and in her trust believes that Italy will ask noth- 
ing of her that cannot be made unmistakably consistent with 
those sacred obligations. Interest is not now in question, but the 
rights of peoples; of states new and old, of liberated peoples, and 
peoples whose rulers have never accounted them worthy of 
rights; above all, the right of the world to peace and such set- 
tlements of interest as shall make peace secure. 

These, and these only, are the principles for which America has 
fought. These and these only are the principles upon which she 
can consent to make peace. Only on these principles, she hopes 
and believes, will the people of Italy ask her to make peace. 

At the moment when President Wilson released his 
statement on the situation the negotiations with Italy 
in the Council of Four had reached a critical stage. 
According to the story told at the Italian headquarters 
the secretary to Mr. I/loyd George arrived there at 3 
o'clock on the afternoon of April 23 with the reply of 
President Wilson, Mr. Lloyd George, and M. Clemen- 
ceau to Italy's demands. This was handed to the 
Prince of Scordia, who conveyed it to Count Aldo- 
brandini, secretary to Signer Sonnino. The count 
found that the reply dealt with all questions osten- 
sibly to the satisfaction of Italy, but did not explain 
the status of Fiume. He thereupon asked the secre- 
tary what the three proposed for Fiume. He replied 
that he had no information on that point. 

The count thereupon telephoned the houses of Presi- 
dent Wilson and Mr. Lloyd George to demand whether 
these men would receive the ambassadors of Italy in 
order to clear this matter up. President Wilson being 
occupied for the moment, the Marquis Imperiali, Italy's 
ambassador to London, went immediately to the home of 



THE rOUETEEJSr POINTS 161 

Mr. Lloyd George. To his question of what would be 
the status of Eiume, Mr. Lloyd George answered : 

" A free city, outside of all control." He added that 
he would be pleased to receive the Italian reply that 
evening. 

The Marquis Imperiali returned to the Italian head- 
quarters and found the members of the delegation read- 
ing the statement of President Wilson, which had just 
been published in an extra edition of " Le Temps." A 
meeting was hastily held, at which a letter to Mr. Lloyd 
George and M. Glemenceau was drafted by Signer Or- 
lando, in which he said: 

The Italian delegation finds it impossible to continue to par- 
ticipate usefully in the work of the Peace Conference. The dele- 
gation regrets that President Wilson intervened at a moment 
when the Italian representatives were making a supreme effort on 
behalf of conciliation, which by this very act he rendered impos- 
sible. 

Signor Orlando further praised the loyalty with 
which Great Britain and France adhered to their prom- 
ises embodied in the treaty of London, and declared 
that the sole responsibility for the decision which had 
been forced upon the Italian delegation — that of leav- 
ing Paris — rested upon President Wilson alone, and 
that the American people could not be made to share 
in it. 

Crowds gathered in front of the entrance to the Hotel 
Edouard Sept and called for Prime Minister Orlando. 
There were cheers for Italy and Erance. The crowd 
was dignified and well behaved. A little later the dele- 
gation published the following note; 



162 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

As a result of the declaration by President Wilson on the Adri- 
atic question, the Italian delegates have decided to leave Paris 
to-morrow. 

The note produced a sensation and added fuel to the 
excitement. It was felt that the conference had reached 
a turning-point, l^o one knew whither the day's de- 
velopments would lead. President Wilson's methods 
stunned and shocked. The conservative elements ral- 
lied to cover against this disastrous ^' new diplomacy." 
Among the practised European diplomats sympathy 
seemed to be pretty general for Italy. President Wil- 
son again stood out alone, a solitary figure. 

In French and British circles it was pointed out that 
each had labored diligently to bring about an accord. 
The lack of harmony, it was pointed out, was entirely 
between Signor Orlando and the American President. 
For four days the representatives of the French Repub- 
lic had toiled far into the night at the work of finding 
a solution. They had sought to delay the publication 
of President Wilson's statement, asserted " Le Temps." 
This they had done in a spirit of faithfulness to their 
convictions. M. Clemenceau had agitated for an al- 
liance with Italy in 1880, and M. Pichon had been one 
of the founders of the Comite Franco-Italie, at a time 
when war between these two countries and Great Britain 
appeared imminent. These were old ties. The Brit- 
ish, on the other hand, were also not slow to assert that 
Mr. Lloyd George had done everything in his power 
to avert a rupture. In fact, he had almost brought about 
a solution. On April 24 Mr. Lloyd George asked Sig- 
ner Orlando to breakfast with him at the Rue ITitot, 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 163 

but the Italian premier was unable to accept. Mr. 
Lloyd George then went to the Hotel Edouard Sept and 
had a long talk with Signor Orlando. The latter had 
arranged to depart at two o'clock in the afternoon, but 
Mr. Lloyd George counseled delay, in the hope of find- 
ing a solution for the crisis. Signor Orlando waited 
until eight o'clock, but refused to put off his trip to 
Eome. Thus the honor of the European cabinets was 
preserved from contamination by the upstart from the 
West. 

On April 24 the following note was issued by Renter 
and credited to the British delegation : 

Great Britain has advised Italy to renounce for its own in- 
terests certain of its claims. However, if the Italians insist on 
obtaining the rights given them by the treaty of London of April 
26, 1915, France and Great Britain will honor their signatures. 

" They point out that the treaty of London gives Fiume to the 
Croats and that if the treaty is put in force, the article relative 
to Fiume will be likewise. 

" MM. Clemenceau and Lloyd George endeavor to arrive at an 
agreement. 

" Mr. Wilson published his declaration upon his own responsi- 
bility." 

When the newspapers arrived it was found that reams 
upon reams of white paper had been used to heap abuse 
and criticism upon the head of the man who had dared 
use this " innovation " in a political controversy. Italy 
responded almost with one voice in utter condemnation 
of the man who had been feted and acclaimed there but 
four short months ago. The conservative press of 
France politely stated its amazement — and regret. 
Many of the newspapers of England declared that the 
President had gone too far. The administration organs 



164 THE ADVENTURES OF 

invented alibis for Mr. Lloyd George, and only a few 
newspapers spoke without heat. The issue was lost 
sight of in an attack on the statesman who had come 
from America to '^ dictate " to the old world. 

The news was spread broadcast that the departure of 
the Italian delegation meant that Italy would withdraw 
from the Conference and make a separate peace. The 
report was not true, nor based on anything more than a 
conjecture. Signor Orlando merely contemplated mak- 
ing a trip to Rome to get a vote of confidence from the 
Italian people, and although the delegates of Italy 
might be absent for an indefinite length of time, there 
was no question of Italy's leaving the Conference. 

But by far the most important development of the 
twenty-fourth was Signor Orlando's statement in reply 
to the President. Pie deprecated the fact that the Presi- 
dent's appeal had been addressed to the people rather 
than to the Government, a procedure which, he said, had 
been followed heretofore only in the case of the hostile 
governments. But, he continued, he would not com- 
plain of that ; in his turn he would follow the example 
of the President, and address the people. To draw a 
distinction between the Italian Government and the 
Italian people, which might imply that a free people was 
capable of submitting to the yoke of a will that was not 
its own, was, he said, a supposition that would be un- 
justifiably offensive to his country. He did not agree 
that the contentions of Italy violated the principles of 
President Wilson, but he had not been able to convince 
the President of this. He must regard the way in 
which President Wilson applied his principles to the 



THE rOURTEEIsr POINTS 165 

Italian claims as altogether unjustifiable. The asser- 
tion that the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire 
involved a reduction of Italy's aspirations ^' will not be 
received without reserve.'' He continued : 

The presidential message affirms that with the concessions 
which it mentions Italy would be extended to the walls of the 
Alps, which are her natural defense. This recognition is of great 
importance, provided the left flank of that wall is not left open 
and that Monte Nevoso, which divides the waters flowing to- 
wards the Black Sea from those falling into the Mediterranean, is 
included in Italy's right to such a line. This is the mountain 
that the Latins themselves always called Limes Italicus from the 
time when the true configuration of Italy was realized in the 
sentiment and the conscience of the people. Without that pro- 
tection a dangerous breach would remain yawning in that ad- 
mirable natural barrier, the Alps, and it would mean the break- 
ing ofl" of that unquestionable political, historical and economic 
unity which the peninsula of Istria forms. 

And I further think that he who can proudly claim to have 
proclaimed to the world the free right of peoples to self-de- 
termination is the very one who is bound to recognize that right 
in the case of Fiume, an ancient Italian city, which proclaimed 
its Italian affinity before the Italian ships were anywhere near it 
— an excellent example of national consciousness retained for cen- 
turies. To deny that right simply for the reason that it is a cause 
of a small community would be to admit that the criterion of jus- 
tice to different peoples varies according to their territorial ex- 
tent; and if the denial of this right is to be based on the inter- 
national character of the port, have we not the cases of Antwerp, 
Genoa, Rotterdam, international ports serving as outlets for the 
most diverse peoples and i-egions, without their having to pay 
dearly for this privilege by the stifling of their national con- 
science? 

And can one describe as excessive Italy's aspiration toward the 
coast of Dalmatia, that bulwark of Italy which throughout the 
centuries which Roman genius and Venetian activity made noble 
and great, and whose Italianism, defying for a whole century all 
sorts of implacable persecutions, to-day shares the same tremors 
of patriotism as the Italian people? With regard to Poland the 
principle is proclaimed that rights cannot be created by dena- 
tionalization secured by violence and arbitrariness. Why not ap- 
ply the same principles to Dalmatia? 



166 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

I have quoted the essential arguments in Signer Or- 
lando's statement, omitting his story of the cooperation 
of the Italian people in the war and in the conference, 
and the declaration of warm sympathy and admiration 
for the American people with which he closed. He de- 
parted that evening, after he had attended a meeting of 
the Council of Four, at which President Wilson talked 
with him at some length on the subject of his declara- 
tion. Signer Orlando is quoted as saying that he in- 
formed the President that the matter had reached a 
point at which even the acceptance by the council of 
the demands of Italy could not be allowed to delay his 
immediate reference of the controversy to the Italian 
people. Baron Sonnino left the following morning with 
Signer Salandra, and M. Pichon was present at the gare 
to do the honors for France. A large crowd had gath- 
ered, and the principal Italian representatives in Paris 
joined in the demonstration. 

Let us follow Signer Orlando to Eome and witness 
the remarkable enthusiasm with which the Italian peo- 
ple responded to the coming of their representative. 
Heretofore the premier had slipped quietly, unostenta- 
tiously into the city, preferring to avoid crowds. Now 
he went openly, because he meant to learn the opinion 
of all Italy. And all Italy, apparently, was with him. 
Enthusiastic thousands acclaimed him at Modane, 
Turin, Asti, Alessandria, and Genoa. On the morning 
of April 26 he arrived in Rome. Press despatches de- 
scribe the event as rivaling all other welcomes in its in- 
tensity. Unnumbered thousands awaited the premier 
on the wide piazza bounded by the railway station, the 



THE rOUETEEN POINTS 167 

baths of Diocletian, and the Hotel Continental. Many 
persons were perched precariously on the ruins of the 
ancient baths and on roofs of houses, just as they had 
been when President Wilson arrived four months be- 
fore. For ten minutes the crowd cheered, and then 
Signor Orlando addressed them. 

^^ Have the Italian Government and the Italian del^ 
gation in Paris, in acting as they have acted, repre- 
sented faithfully and with dignity the aspirations and 
will of the Italian people ? '' shouted the prime minister. 

" Yes ! Yes ! " came a hoarse roar from all sides. 

" I do not doubt your sentiments," said the premier, 
" but I wanted a confirmation. Here is the confirma- 
tion!" 

With a gesture he indicated all the thousands gath- 
ered on the piazza. It was well that he could not see 
two months into the future and behold himself the 
object of a biting interpellation. 

Then came a manifestation which showed that this 
was a personal attack on the President, and not upon 
the American people. " Long live America ! " cried 
the crowds. " Down with President Wilson ! " 

Signor Orlando then made a statement that was not 
worthy of him, not worthy of a man who had conducted 
his high office with dignity and uniform courtliness 
throughout these trying times. 

" We must show that we have taken the worst into 
consideration," he said. " After four years of un- 
speakable privations and sacrifices we may find our- 
selves faced with fresh sacrifices and privations. At 
this moment Italy is ready and greater than ever — 



168 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

greater than in May, 1915. The decision must be a 
well-considered one. Food supplies are failing us, but 
Italy, which has known hunger, has never known dis- 
honor. I do not conceal from you the danger of this 
very critical hour and I am with you, a brother among 
brothers, and also a chief who asks to obey and follow 
the will of the people. It may be that we shall find 
ourselves alone, but Italy must be united and have a 
single will. Italy will not perish." 

This statement shows the lengths to which the heat 
of the controversy had driven even so self-possessed a 
man as the Italian prime minister. For his sugges- 
tion that Italy might know yet great sacrifices and 
privations seemed to recall reports circulated in Paris 
that the American Government might curtail its food 
supplies to Italy — reports reprinted in newspapers like 
the " Morning Post " of London, which said : 

Moreover, rightly or wrongly, many Frenchmen believe that Mr. 
Wilson, like so many other idealists, is not afraid of using the 
big stick. Behind the somewhat florid compliments to Italy 
there lies a threat, and it is felt here that the gentleman who 
may have the honor of translating that threat into action may be 
the ubiquitous Mr. Hoover. 

\ 
The demonstrations in Rome continued for several 

days. General Diaz, Signor Barzilai, and Prince 

Colonna, the mayor of Rome, all addressed the throngs. 

On the day that Signor Orlando arrived the King and 

Queen of Italy, the Duke of Genoa, and the crown 

prince appeared on the balcony of the Quirinal Palace 

amid the thunderous acclamations of the crowds, and 

here later the prime minister joined them. The next 

day Prince Colonna addressed a meeting in front of the 



THE rOUETEEN POINTS 169 

Capitol, and declared that Eiume as well as the land 
named in the treaty of London should he annexed, and 
that the Government should rememher its duty in re- 
gard to " other unredeemed Italian cities, and especially 
Spalato and Trau." On April 28 Signor Orlando ad- 
dressed the Chamber and the Senate, giving his story of 
the negotiations. He said that the point of view of 
Great Britain and France was that they meant to ob- 
serve their ^^ pledge of honor " given in the secret treaty. 
He added : 

It has been stated that inasmuch as the treaty does not include 
Fiume in the Italian claims, they do not think they can agree on 
this question with the Italian point of view, and could assent to 
the principle of making Fiume a free and independent sovereign 
city only on condition that this should be by way of a compro- 
mise, and not as a supplement to the integral execution of the 
clauses of the treaty. 

Ostensibly all Italy stood back of the prime minis- 
ter. President Wilson's statement seemed to the Ital- 
ians so much like an attack on their pride that they 
dropped their party bickerings and united to the sup- 
port of the delegation in Paris. Even those Italians 
who had fought the Italian program as too ambitious, 
men like Leonida Bissolati, the socialist leader who 
withdrew from the Orlando cabinet late in 1918 be- 
cause he would not support the Dalmatian claims of 
Italy, declared that he supported Italy's claims to 
Fiume on the ground of President Wilson's own prin- 
ciples. Gabriele D'Annunzio, the poet, an overzealous 
nationalist, became vituperative in his personal criticism 
of the American President. Signor Turati and the 
official socialists refrained from joining the acclama- 



170 THE ADVENTURES OF 

tions for Orlando, explaining that although they fa- 
vored self-determination for Fiume, they did not wish 
to enter into the burning question of the moment, for 
they differed from the whole system by which affairs 
were being arranged in Paris. 

Severe criticism of President Wilson's act might have 
been looked for in the Italian newspapers, but there 
were a large number of organs of various political 
groups in England that were no less abusive. The 
" Daily Express " of London called the statement : " A 
sample of diplomacy gone mad. It is the rabies of 
diplomacy." The London " Globe " spoke of " blun- 
dering, blustering diplomacy of the big stick.'^ The 
London " Dispatch " said that " most significant of all 
is the resignation of the American ambassador at Rome, 
who also disagrees with the president." " John Bull " 
spoke of " an overbearing autocrat." " The Morning 
Post " called the act " wild West diplomacy " and 
added : " President Wilson has come among the al- 
lies like a rich uncle. They have accepted his manners 
out of respect for his means." " The Times," how- 
ever, refused to become excited over an " innovation " 
feeling that the unprecedented condition of the world 
made many innovations inevitable, if things were to 
move at all. 

The administrative council of the Confederation 
Generale du Travail, the labor federation of Paris, sent 
the following statement to President Wilson : 

Your strong and public protest against the Italian claims has 
met, we can assure you, with unqualified approval in the minds 
of the French working classes, in the name of whom we thank 



THE rOUKTEEN POINTS 171 

you for this new mark of courage and fidelity to the peace prin- 
ciples of which you have made yourself the champion, and which 
ought to be imposed on all the belligerents in the sacred interests 
of the peoples and peace. 

Gustave Herve, however, writing in " La Victoire," 
undertook to dim the brightness of this compliment from 
the workers. He reminded the President that the rul- 
ers of the confederation, after all, '^ represent only the 
Bolsheviki of Prance, and that the rest of the coun- 
try — that is to say practically the whole of France — 
has been plunged into despair these last three days ow- 
ing to the attitude adopted toward Italy, their friend 
and ally." 

It was now the Council of the Three that sat in 
Paris: President Wilson, Mr. Lloyd George, and M. 
Clemenceau. They turned from the Italian situation 
and took up other questions, such as that of the German 
leaseholds in Shan-tung. In the meantime the work of 
trying to find a solution for the Adriatic dispute went 
forward unoflScially. It was pointed out that Italy did 
not ask the whole Dalmatian coast, but that more than 
half of this coast, many of the islands and historically 
Italian towns like Spalato and Ragusa were left to the 
Jugo Slavs. Spalato is 160 miles south of Fiume and 
capable of great development. When Italy first began 
Iier negotiations with the Allies before entering the 
war, she asked for the neutralization of the whole coast- 
line, including Montenegro, as well as the towns of 
Spalato, Trau, and the Peninsula of Sabbioncello. Rus- 
sia protested, and Italy modified her claims to those 
contained within the pact of London. Among other 
suggestions were these: that the Allies should give 



172 THE ADVEITTURES OF 

Eiume to Italy and build a new harbor for the Jugo 
Slavs elsewhere, as for instance at Senj, thirty miles 
southeast of Eiume, or at Buccari, opening on the Gulf 
of Fiume, and reached more quickly than Fiume by 
trains from Agram. 

In the next few weeks the American mission was re- 
galed with the comment on the President's note coming 
from the United States — comment of various kinds. 
The widely quoted remarks of Senator Lodge, asking the 
same treatment for Dantzic as for Fiume, and depre- 
cating American intervention in European affairs, ap- 
peared to please Italian opinion. The Italians also 
in their propaganda material made use of reports that 
the legislatures of Massachusetts and Illinois had re- 
quested the American mission to grant the claims of 
Italy in full. 

Eventually the negotiations were resumed. Finding 
the American President firm in his views, the Italian 
delegation now began to admit the possibility of com- 
promising on details of the pact of London, although 
holding fast to Fiume. More attention also came to 
be given to Italy's claims in Asia Minor and in Africa. 
While this was in progress, Italian public opinion, 
which had so enthusiastically indorsed Orlando, veered 
and began to be extremely critical and fault-finding with 
the Italian delegation because it had been unable to 
accomplish anything. '^ The war was won, but we have 
lost the peace,'' was a phrase that began to be repeated 
in Italy, and the blame was placed upon the shoulders 
of Baron Sonnino, who from the first had directed 
Italy's foreign affairs. 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 1Y3 

Then the idea of building up a buffer state of Fiume 
came to the foreground. 

This city, the bone of contention, was now to be 
made a sovereign city under the League of N'ations, and 
provided with sufficient territory so that it would not 
be amenable to foreign influences. One of the most 
discussed of the plans was drawn up by M. Tardieu, 
who is also said to be the author of the plan govern- 
ing the Saar basin. M. Tardieu proposed that the 
town of Fiume, excluding the suburb of Sussak, should 
form a free state under the League of JSTations, together 
with the territory of Yolosca and the islands of Cherso, 
Arbe, and Veglia. The state was to have the southeast- 
ern stretch of the railway running from Fiume to 
Laibach and to follow the frontier of Italy, which was 
to get the rest of Istria. It was to be administered by 
a council composed of two Italians from the Kingdom 
of Italy, one inhabitant of Fiume, one Jugo Slav, and 
one Hungarian. Italy was to receive Zara, Sebenico, 
and the islands of Lussin, Lissa, and Curzola. Italy 
was also to have a mandate over Albania under the 
League. A plebiscite was to be taken within fifteen 
years in Fiume, so that the inhabitants might deter- 
mine what state they wished to join. 

At about the same time Colonel House made a pro- 
posal to Signor Orlando on his own initiative, saying, 
however, that it was not necessarily approved by Presi- 
dent Wilson. This plan is understood to have had the 
support of Mr. Lloyd George and M. Clemenceau. Colo- 
nel House wanted to give the whole of Istria to Italy, 
as in the treaty of London, and make Fiume a sovereign 



174 THE ADVENTUEES OF 

city, with Italy representing it diplomatically. He also 
•gave Zara and Sebenico to Italy, as well as the Quarnero 
and other islands. 

President Wilson did not approve of the plan of 
Colonel House, because he wanted a line drawn through 
Istria so that the Jugo Slavs would command the Lai- 
bach railway. There are 130,000 Slovenes and only 
4,000 Italians in eastern Istria, and the President did 
not feel justified in giving all this to Italy. He did not 
wish Italian territory to border direct on the city of 
Eiume. 

The Jugo Slavs objected to any settlement that would 
not give them Fiume, and naturally did not wish a pre- 
ponderant Italian majority in the government of Eiume, 
nor to have the city represented by Italy diplomatically. 
Objection was also raised to the idea of a plebiscite 
within fifteen years. It was reported at one time that 
the Jugo Slavs demanded a plebiscite in three years, 
saying that in fifteen the complexion of the place might 
have been changed by infiltration. They also wanted 
a plebiscite for the territory as a whole, whereas the 
Italians demanded a plebiscite by districts, so that a 
Jugo Slav majority outside the town could not out- 
weigh the Italian majority within it. Gradually opin- 
ion at the conference inclined toward the creation of a 
state of Fiume, with sovereign rights under the League 
of Nations, free from all outside control and governing 
itself. The renunciation by Italy of virtually 150,000 
Slavs in the interior of Dalmatia also helped clear the 
atmosphere. 

Although glad to see the Italian claims cut down 



THE FOUETEEK POINTS 175 

by the suggestion of a free state of Eiume, the Jugo 
Slavs were not ready to give up land for it which they 
considered a part of Jugo Slavia. Thus they opposed 
the inclusion of Sussak and the island of Veglia, al- 
though they wanted the inclusion of Istria up to the 
Pola-Triest railway. 

With the controversy between President Wilson and 
the Italian delegation thus clearly in mind, it may be 
profitable to indicate what Italy sought in other fields, 
with a view to understanding Italy's aims at the Peace 
Conference as a whole. 

Italy demanded in Asia Minor the vilayets of Adalia 
and Konia, and southern Anatolia, together with cer- 
tain coal-mining concessions in northern Anatolia. 

Italy opposed the formation of a Danube confedera- 
tion out of the former Austria-Hungary, a policy pur- 
sued by France, feeling that it would be anti-Italian. 
Italy also opposed the formation of a customs union of 
these states. 

Italy opposed the transfer to Greece of western 
Thrace, held by Bulgaria under the terms of the treaty 
of Bukharest. Italy also felt that she had a certain 
claim on Smyrna, which was given her in the con- 
vention of St. Jean de Maurienne, but which was oc- 
cupied by Greek troops during the spring of 1919 with 
the consent of the powers. 

Italy demanded a rectification of the frontier of 
Libya-Tunis, in an endeavor to get the caravan route 
that connects the two roads of Ghat and Ghadames, as 
well as rectification of the Libyan frontier on the Egyp- 
tian side^ with the possible cession of Jubaland and 



176 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

the port of Kismayu by England. Italy also sought 
territorial concessions in French Somaliland and Jibuti, 
in order to complete the northeast African possessions 
of Italy and to give her a route for economic penetration 
into Abyssinia by way of the Jibuti-Addis-Abeba rail- 
way. It was understood that France brought consid- 
erable opposition to this scheme, and endeavored to 
pave the way for Italy to help administer a part of the 
Portuguese colony of Angola, which would not hurt 
France. 

While these negotiations were going on, the heat of 
the controversy with President Wilson cooled. The 
Italian press began to be more and more critical of the 
work accomplished by the Italian representatives in 
Paris, blaming them rather than the American Presi- 
dent for the lack of progress. It was charged that 
Baron Sonnino had failed to make friends everywhere ; 
that he might have followed one of two policies : 

Either an open policy of sympathy and of solidarity with all 
the little powers, or a hidden policy of agreement and entente 
with certain of the great powers in such a way as to insure solid 
support in the interplay of the various interests. But Orlando 
and Sonnino have followed neither the one nor the other, and to 
this is to be imputed the main blame for Italy's isolation. . . . 
With the unconsidered step by which they abandoned the con- 
ference Sonnino and Orlando seemed to tell the Italian people 
they could and ought to act independently. But then suddenly 
and secretly they slipped back to Paris, and to those who asked 
why, they said that separation from the allied and associated 
powers would have been dangerous and that our interest counseled 
us to participate in the labors of the conference up till the last. 

The agitation for their resignation began. Two 
members of the delegation dropped out, Salandra and 



THE FOURTEEN^ POmTS 177 

Salvago-Raggi. The issue, however, could not long be 
avoided. 

On June 19 Prime Minister Orlando appeared be- 
fore the Chamber of Deputies in Eome and endeavored 
to justify the policy of the Italian delegation in Paris. 
He said that it had been the endeavor of the delegation 

to maintain with all firmness the essential points of the Italian 
claims, without which Italy is convinced peace will neither be just 
nor adequate to the immense sacrifices suffered; to remain faith- 
ful in its duties to its allies; to avoid any blind form of obstinate 
intransigeance. Indeed, we have tried to facilitate conciliatory 
suggestions capable of producing accord in the conference over 
the problems concerning Italian frontiers. Economic and politi- 
cal problems of Italy have been solved in a manner with which, 
on the whole, I feel satisfied. Besides we have obtained the de- 
termination of our northern frontier along the magnificent bar- 
rier which nature placed as Italy's bulwark. Regarding the east- 
ern Adriatic Italy has not refused to discuss such solutions as 
are capable of insuring an agreement of all the great powers, but 
failing which Italy remains firm in demanding those territories 
granted her by a solemn pledge of validity which was acknowl- 
edged by our allies, who declared that these same territories were 
to be assigned to Italy as a reward for her entering the great 
struggle. 

All of which was very well, but it did not satisfy the 
deputies. The great question, the vital question, after 
all, was, ^* What have you done in the matter of 
Eiume ? '' 

The reply of Signor Orlando was not at all convinc- 
ing. He asked the chamber to go into secret session 
in order that he might discuss his policy in Paris. He 
added that he would consider the vote on his proposal 
as a vote of confidence in his administration. 

The deputies defeated the proposal by 259 to 78 



178 THE ADVENTURES OF 

votes, a severe blow for the Paris delegation, and the 
Orlando ministry thereby passed out of power. Prime 
Minister Orlando resigned. Baron Sonnino followed 
his example, and the delegation which had fought for 
Fiume and incurred the opposition of President Wil- 
son passed into history. 

Baron Sonnino, M. S. Crespi, and the Marquis Im- 
periali placed their signatures under the treaty of peace 
with Germany on behalf of Italy on June 28. 

The King of Italy called upon Francesco Saverio 
Kitti to form a cabinet ; a singular choice, as Nitti had 
left the cabinet of Orlando in January because he dis- 
agreed with Italy's pretensions to a great part of the 
Adriatic coast-line. He had previously visited the 
United States in 1917 with the mission of the Prince 
of Udine, and had entered the cabinet the same year 
as minister of the treasury. When he left he had the 
same views as Bissolati — that Italy should cultivate the 
friendship of the Jugo Slavs, whom he considered a 
coming power in the Balkans. Some of the opposition 
newspapers called Nitti a lieutenant of Giolitti. 

It might be expected from this choice that the policy 
of Italy in Paris would be considerably modified, but 
a surprise came when Signor Tomasso Tittoni was 
named minister of foreign affairs. Tittoni had previ- 
ously served in this office from 1903 to 1905 and from 
1906 to 1910. In the latter year he was made am- 
bassador to France, in which capacity he served until 
1916. Tittoni was in Paris when the secret treaties 
were negotiated, and though the name of the Marquis 
Imperiali is signed to the one affecting Italy, Tittoni 



THE rOUKTEEN POINTS 179 

played an important role in the negotiations leading up 
to Italy's entrance into the war. Signer Orlando had 
headed the delegation in Paris, but Prime Minister 
Nitti determined to remain in Rome and to send his 
foreign minister to direct the Paris negotiations. 

No matter how diplomatically Signer Tittoni bows 
to the will of the conference in Paris and accepts a com- 
promise settlement of the Fiume dispute, the contro- 
versy over this little town will not be ended. It may go 
on for years, for the issue has now become clean-cut, and 
the Italians of Fiume will not easily forget their Italian- 
ity. And Fiume, having declared its annexation to 
Italy, has taken another step that demonstrates the tem- 
per of the Fiumians. On June 13 the Italian National 
Council of Fiume held an extraordinary session at which 
it voted the institution of an army for the defense of 
Fiume. To meet the expenses of this army it voted to 
issue bonds up to 100,000,000 lire, or $20,000,000. 
To further the administration of justice, it voted that 
hereafter all decrees shall bear the formula " Victor 
Emmanuel III, by the grace of God and the wishes of 
the nation King of Italy, etc." And as director of 
all the affairs of war of the town of Fiume, the coun- 
cil named Sem Benelli, poet and patriot, incomparable 
author of '^ The Love of the Three Kings." Verily, it 
is a story of romance, of politics, and intrigue, this 
story of Fiume. 



CHAPTER X 

Conference days in Paris — Jottings from a note-book in the 
year of the great peace. 

Paris of Peace Conference days, what an odd, exotic 
place it is, not at all like Paris of the Parisians ! Pilled 
with men of strange tongues and stranger dress; with 
statesmen who speak in the legislative chambers of 
half the world; with the back wash of the war; with 
tattered surviving elements of whole cities, refugees 
who possess nothing but the clothes upon their backs ; 
with gaily adorned commanding officers of armies and 
navies loaded down with insignia, decorations, and gold 
lace. Vienna in the year of the congress presented no 
scene like this. 

There is that famous line of the old Prince de Ligne 
at the congress, one hundred and four years ago : *' Le 
congres danse," he said, " mais il ne marclie pas/' 
What would the old field-marshal and favorite of Cath- 
erine II of Russia say to-day could he see Paris of the 
Peace Conference — the Paris in which statesmen are 
cudgeling their brains over the problems of the coming 
peace ? To-day it is Paris that dances, Paris of the 
Poilu, of the doughboy, of the Tommy and the Anzac ; 
Paris of the bright, colorful night life, which has crept 
so cautiously into its own. Perhaps it was always there 

even during the war. It is as if some one had drawn 

180 



THE FOUETEEN POINTS 181 

back a thick hanging of old Gobelin tapestry and re- 
vealed the figures of an ancient frieze pirouetting on a 
waxen floor. 

I sat to-night in the auditorium of the Casino de 
Paris while the fighters of the New and the Old World 
mingled in one mad, intoxicating throng, a medley of 
0. d., horizon blue, gold braid, stiff red collars, tasseled 
caps, broad-brimmed Anzac hats; colonials of another 
race ; brave, bearded men wearing the Croix de Guerre, 
the Medaille Militaire, and the ribbon of the Legion. 

The soldier world of Paris finds its way easily to the 
casino. It is a house of dance and song, where Broad- 
way melodies of a season or two ago come back to life 
resplendent with topical verses that Broadway would 
never recognize. It is a theater where men may loll 
back in their chairs and smoke, and where between the 
acts resounds the tumultuous cacophony of the French 
version of the American ^' jazz '' band. It is the thea- 
ter where Mistinguet plays her thirty odd roles in one 
evening and goes through the most maddening attack 
of cyclonic dancing that Paris has ever seen. 

A lieutenant of engineers leaned forward and tapped 
me on the arm. '' See," he said, '^ even our diplomats 
come to the casino." 

It was true. Several of the world's great statesmen 
were occupying a box, but scarcely one of the numerous 
throng in uniform was aware of it or cared. In that, 
too, time had wrought great changes since Vienna. 
There the crowd came because the sovereigns came; it 
stood for hours in the rain or the hot sun waiting for a 
glimpse of its masters. And those who wrote of Vienna 



182 THE ADVENTURES OF 

spoke at great length of the emperors and kings and 
princes and nobles that graced the public festivals, and 
gave but scant space to the rabble that bore arms. I 
recalled a few lines in the memoirs of Count de la Garde 
devoted to the crowds that gathered in the Augarten to 
view the monarchs as they passed with their troops, or 
stood on tiptoe to gaze as the sovereigns attended mili- 
tary mass. There was one titled woman who com- 
plained that the rabble had torn her clothes — the rab- 
ble that was there only to die for the nobility of that day. 
The casino was one agitated mass of color. Through 
the thick tobacco smoke shone blue, khaki, red, and gold. 
Even the mimic world across the footlights was trying 
to mingle with the mass. From the stage Albert Chev- 
alier was leading the audience in a new version of that 
wonderful marching-song ^' Madelon.^' It was a new 
Madelon this time, a Madelon of victory. A canvas 
sheet was dropped, showing the words of the chorus. 
The Pollux rallied for the refrain. The doughboj^s so 
far had met nothing inside the dictionary or out to deter 
them. They shouted in wild disharmony. And thus 
it ran: 

Madelon, emplis mon verre 
Et chante avec les poilus! 
Nous avons gagne la guerre 
Hein! Crois-tu qu'on les a eus! 
Madelon, ah ! verse a boire, 
Et surtout n'y mets pas d'eau, 
C'est pour feter la victoire, 
Joffre, Foch, et Clemenceau! 

Throughout the hall men were joining in — Chas- 
seurs Alpins wearing their tam-o'-shanters, Scotchmen 



THE rOUETEElST POINTS 183 

in plaids, Canadians and Tommies liberally sprinkled 
with brass insignia, and Americans with all sorts of odd 
devices on their sleeves : the magic figures 1 for the Eirst 
Division; the fir-tree of California, the sun, the wild- 
cat, the Indian head, and all the picturesque markings 
that have been evolved since the war began. 

It was a friendly, a sociable crowd. Its variegated 
make-up was typical of all Paris of the conference. 

To-day in Paris ministers plenipotentiary and com- 
missioners extraordinary mingle on the boulevards and 
in the cafes, sit beside bronzed doughboys in the 
^' Metro," haggle with tradesmen in the rue, run after 
elusive cabs and await their turn among the unnum- 
bered hundreds for a room with bath at the few avail- 
able hotels. At night in the music halls, theaters, and 
opera-houses of Paris one sees the men who have won 
the war with their fists and the men who are to secure 
the peace of the world by their wits and mental power 
sitting side by side. 

January 7, 1919. 

There was an exhilarating tang in the air that made 
me want to walk when I left my hotel on the Quai 
d'Orsay early to-day. I swung across the Pont Royal, 
and reveled in the sight of the turbulent and swollen 
Seine, and walked with a brisk step across the Garden 
of the Tuileries. Far down on the Rue de Rivoli I 
could see the large facade of the Ministry of Marine 
and of the Hotel de Crillon, and through the morning 
haze I could see the flagstaff s, with the flag of France 
flying from the staff on the one building, and the flag 
of the United States flying from the other. 



184 THE ADVEi^TURES OF 

Even at that distance it appeared as if the flag on 
the Crillon was at half-mast. Perhaps it was only a 
momentary illusion, I reflected, as I turned into the 
arcades of the Eivoli. Then I passed a news-vender's 
stand, and there in " Le Matin '' 1 read the news : 
Roosevelt was dead. 

Only a matter of a few brief lines at that, but they 
sufiiced to tell the tale. It seemed incredible. Even 
here, in this environment, where anything could hap- 
pen and anything be believed, I found it hard to com- 
prehend that T. R. was dead. 

I did not think of him as a part of this conference 
or even as a factor in the peace negotiations. He 
seemed more an inseparable part of America, three 
thousand miles away. It was as if the report had come 
that there was no longer a New York or a San Fran- 
cisco, as if some gigantic physical upheaval had 
changed the map of the world. 

As I turned into the Rue de Castiglione my mind 
was busy with his career as a great public figure. It 
was amazingly short, this career, so short that even I, 
who thought of myself hardly at the median line of 
life, could touch both ends of it. 

Fifteen, twenty years sufficed to write his story. 
Yes, it was only fifteen years ago this summer that he 
had been nominated, on his o\\m, for the highest office 
in the land at the convention in Chicago which it had 
been my good fortune to attend. 

I thought of the times that I had seen him, of the 
conditions under which I had talked with him, of the 
enthusiasm he had always aroused within me. I 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 186 

thought of one of the last times I saw him — in the 
compartment of a speeding train, when he had eluci- 
dated his doctrine that a man could be neither Swedish 
nor Erench nor English nor German if he claimed 
citizenship in the United States, but just pure Ameri- 
can, striving with heart and soul for the welfare of 
his native land, no matter what the origin of the name 
he bore or the blood that flowed in his veins. How 
truly we Americans needed that preachment to-day — 
here in Paris ! 

The announcement of his death took just a few lines 
in ^^ Le Matin,'' but Stephane Lauzanne had risen 
gloriously to do honor to this friend of France. At 
the top of his first two columns appeared in black 
type the words of Roosevelt to Lauzanne : " I have nc 
message to send to France. I have given my best. li 
you speak of me, say simply that I have but one regret, 
that I was not able to give myself ! " And Lauzanne 
told of his last meeting with T. R. in Oyster Bay. 
" Llis was a great figure ; and, what is even better, a 
fine mind." 

'^ Roosevelt is gone," I said to a friend. " Can you 
believe it ? " 

He shook his head. 

'^ America won't be the same place when we get 
back, will it ? " he said. 

January 25, 1919. 
Louis XIV was his own congress of nations. He 
remade Europe with the sword. President Wilson is 
easily the leading figure at this congress of nations. 



186 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

He works with the pen. Yet, like Louis, after a hard 
day's work in remaking the world he turns to the opera. 
In the days when Louis first danced in the opera 
America was a colonial wilderness. When Jean- 
Philippe Rameau wrote his simple harmonies in the 
latter half of the eighteenth century the United States 
was still unborn; the Bourbon kings were still pow- 
erful, and imperial trappings were to be seen in those 
days before and behind the curtain. 

To-day they have been retired to where they be- 
long, behind the scenes; yet it was odd that the first 
opera ever attended by a President of the United States 
in Paris should be one written by Rameau for a Bour- 
bon king. No one in the time of Louis could ever 
have dreamed that one day a President would sit in 
state to hear the beloved music, or that he would pass 
behind the stage, where royalty and famous artists had 
gone before him, to meet men and women in the service 
of art. It was the first time in the centuries-old history 
of the opera in Paris that the " Star-Spangled Banner " 
was sung from the stage. Germaine Lubin, prima 
donna of the opera, sang it, and Marthe Chenal sang 
the ^' Marseillaise," the two standing before a shield 
of the arms of Paris surmounted by the flags of the 
Allies. The thrill that came to the Americans in that 
audience must have been felt by the French, respon- 
sive as they are to dramatic incidents of that kind. 

The opera, which has been slowly coming back to 
its own, blossomed out in gala attire for the President's 
visit. There again were to be seen the charming toilets 
and display of gems which it was not good form to 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 187 

wear during the war. But the number of uniforms 
of generals, colonels, captains, and men of lesser rank 
of all the Allied armies stood out in sharp contrast 
to the picture of the opera as it was before the war. 

In the famous foyer the crystal chandeliers were only 
half lighted, and the marble and onyx of the great 
staircase seemed gray and dimmed by dust; but the 
reception that Paris society gave the American Presi- 
dent lacked nothing in intensity. The halls that had 
resounded with cheers for musicians and artists now 
echoed with cheers for the President of a democratic 
nation. It was only fitting that grand opera in Paris 
should come back to life like that. 

February 20, 1919. 
There is talk in the corridors of the Crillon about 
1920. Not only in the corridors, but in the offices, too, 
and in what a European journalist would call '' high 
places." The men in the corridors do the speculating; 
the men in the offices do the worrying. Eor the Demo- 
cratic party must have a candidate in 1920 who can 
bring with his victory an indorsement of the President's 
conduct of the war and the peace negotiations. 
, One of the leaders of the Democratic party who has 
been unusually conspicuous as a friend of the Presi- 
dent told a newspaper man to-day that it was most likely, 
in fact highly probable, that Herbert Clark Hoover — 
ahem, he was almost willing to say that without a 
doubt Herbert Clark Hoover — well, anyhow, would n't 
Hoover make a bully nominee, and could the Democrats 
put him across ? 



188 THE ADVEKTURES OF 

To-morrow, dear reader, there will be a paragraph 
in a New York newspaper, saying that there is a grow- 
ing sentiment in high Democratic circles in favor of 
Herbert Clark Hoover, who has done such wonderful 
work in Belgium. 

That is one instance of how political leaders try out 
the names of possible candidates. The paragraph will 
be copied by other newspapers and commented upon. 
Shrewd politicians will watch for its effect on the pub- 
lic mind. By that they will measure the availability 
of the man. 

Considering the source of the suggestion, we can 
come to three conclusions: that President Wilson will 
not become a candidate except for exceptional circum- 
stances ; that the administration has not yet determined 
on its candidate; that Herbert Clark Hoover is consid- 
ered a possibility. 

Before the war the name of Herbert Clark Hoover 
was known only in the field of his profession, and dur- 
ing the war he minded strictly his task — that and 
nothing more. And to-morrow — who knows ? The 
world likes men who know how to mind their own busi- 
ness. 

March 3, 1919. 

I^orman Angell was propped up in bed in his room 
at the Hotel Vouillemont, just around the corner from 
the Crillon, when I looked him up to-day. He was 
trying to intimidate a slight attack of the ^^ flu " with 
a deluge of hot tea. 

'^ Beats all,'' commented Mr. Angell, between sips, 
" how my friends are dying right and left of the ^ flu.' 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 189 

Every time I pick up a paper I see a new name." 

" Do you approve the covenant of the League of ITa- 
tions as it stands ? " I asked. 

" No, I don't. It is a league of governments, not of 
the people. Its outstanding weakness is that it does 
not provide adequate representation of the people as 
distinct from the governments. Besides, the whole 
tendency heretofore has been to separate the executive 
from the legislative powers. Within the nation the 
cabinet cannot make laws, but under the covenant the 
delegates of a cabinet will be able to pass most far- 
reaching laws." 

I sat down on the edge of the bed, and Mr. Angell 
outlined the ideas that had come to him. 

" Sometimes a government is itself merely a minor- 
ity, owing to the political defects of our group or party 
systems," he continued. " Prime Minister Lloyd 
George has a majority of approximately 250 votes in 
Parliament, yet under an equitable system he would not 
have more than a majority of twenty or thirty. 

'^ They tell us that all the political groups should be 
represented in the proposed machinery of the league. 
Until this is done the whole people will not have a 
voice in the affairs of the league. 

'^ There is such a thing as equality of states, and 
the principle is a valuable one, but it must be offset 
by equality of peoples. If Nicaragua as a state has 
one vote, and the United States has one, and we leave 
it at that, we get a situation which is preposterous. But 
if in addition to the chamber of states, which presum- 
ably the body of delegates will be, we have another 



190 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

chamber representing the peoples proportionally, Amer- 
ica will have in that chamber 1,000 times the voting 
power of Nicaragua. The league must create such an 
assembly of representatives. 

^' The same situation came up when Alexander Ham- 
ilton was working on the Constitution of the United 
States. Each of the thirteen States considered itself 
a sovereign state and demanded equal representation, 
which meant giving Ehode Island the same number 
of representatives as New York. Hamilton thereupon 
arranged for a popular chamber which should be made 
up of representatives of the people, and so added to the 
equality of States the equality of men. 

" My suggestion is in effect the creation of an ad- 
ditional body, — an assembly of representatives, — and 
a reduction in size of the body of delegates. You 
would then have a machine corresponding to the Amer- 
ican Federal Government, the council corresponding to 
the cabinet, the assembly of delegates to the Senate, and 
the assembly of representatives to the House of Repre- 
sentatives. My idea is that this latter assembly should 
suggest legislation. I feel that the membership in the 
assembly of delegates should be decreased in number, 
and a house of representatives added.'' 

March 17, 1919. 
The peace commissioners are up pretty late these 
nights, but they are not dancing the polonaise. They 
are fighting against time, laboring by the sweat of the 
brow to get the affairs of the world in shipshape order 
before harassed Europe slips into bankruptcy. 



THE FOUKTEElsr POII^TS 191 

When a peace commissioner appears at a social gath- 
ering in Paris to-day it is after the fish has been served 
and the hosts are anxiously wondering whether the 
guest's chair will remain unoccupied. He dashes in, 
nibbles at a bit of celery, and then starts reading a 
speech which his secretary has carefully typed — per- 
haps written — for him. He does not raise a glass of 
brimming champagne and shout, ^' Here 's to the 
ladies ! " He does not even remain to find out whether 
his speech has been a hit or a flat failure. By the time 
the international row over his remarks starts he is half- 
way down the staircase, ready to deliver another speech 
at another dinner, which he reaches shortly after the 
meat course. 

Take the typical day of an American commissioner. 
He rises at 7 ; gets a rub-down ; breakfast at 8 ; reads his 
mail and papers ; dictates to his secretary at 9 ; at 9 :30 
hears a plea by a delegation for the political autonomy 
of Tierra del Fuego; at 9:35 he hears a missionary on 
religious differences at the Antarctic circle ; at 9 :40 
he gets a memorial for the suppression of the " Ber- 
liner Tageblatt " ; at 9 :45 he listens to pleas for a 
loan of $20,000,000 for making sausages out of the 
Thuringian Forest; at 10 o'clock he meets American 
newspaper men, and categorically denies all the re- 
ports printed in the French newspapers. He is then 
whisked off to a meeting of the committee on the ter- 
ritorial claims of Iceland, followed by a meeting of the 
committee on the territorial claims of Greenland. As 
the two overlap, he goes to lunch feeling that he has 
started another civil war. In the afternoon — 



192 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

When Mr. Wilson's ship left America the delegates 
to the conference began to speed up, and they have been 
speeding up ever since. These are hard days for the 
members of the subordinate committees. One day they 
hear the ayes and the next day the noes. The argu- 
ments on the ethnographical, ethnological, and geo- 
graphical character of the Banat of Temesvar or some 
other equally exciting place pile up. Great heaps of 
books are brought in, and gay colored maps dazzle the 
commissions' eyes. Experts in all languages parade 
their vocabularies. 

In view of the fact that the Council of Ten has most 
of its sittings in the afternoon after the commissioners 
have partaken of the hearty six or eight course luncheon 
V7ith v^hich the French fight off famine in the middle 
of the day, it is no wonder that its members like to 
doze now and then. Of course they do not really get a 
good nap, — just a sort of forty winks, — and if they 
did, nobody would speak about it for fear of starting 
another Balkan war. 

^' I have often wondered how Secretary Lansing 
kept awake," said the Eight Hon. Arthur James Bal- 
four the other day. ^^ Now I have sat next to him and 
found out. He draws the most fascinating pictures im- 
aginable." 

" 'No doubt about it," commented Henry White. 
" Secretary Lansing is actually an artist. He draws 
heads mostly, and they are fine. He has a humorous 
sense, too. After the meetings the attendants gather 
up all his works of art and file them away along with 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 193 

other documents of the conference in French archives. 
His drawings keep him awake." 

^' I am sorry that I have not an accomplishment of 
some kind/' said another commissioner. " I must con- 
fess that I have had a hard time keeping awake. Yes- 
terday I had a fine chance for a nap. The Zionists 
were presenting their case, with which I am fully in 
sympathy. One of their number, a very scholarly man, 
gave a long speech in Hebrew. I speak English, 
French, and the New York dialect, but my Hebrew has 
been neglected. So I dozed off, and woke up when the 
interpreter started.'' 

" Who interpreted for him ? " asked a friend. 

^^ Well, come to think of it, the speaker himself did," 
replied the commissioner. 



CHAPTEK XI 

How Belgium set about to get a brand-new parchment for a 
tattered scrap of paper, and what came of it. 

" Gentlemen/' said M-. Paul Hymans, minister of 
foreign affairs for Belgium, as he arose to address the 
Council of Ten, ^' there is a little matter — ahem — 
which appears to have escaped the attention of the 
Peace Conference. I refer to the so-called scrap of 
paper." 

Thereupon the delegates, who had grown gray since 
the armistice, turned aside from their labored study of 
the ethnological and anthropological conditions in the 
Banat of Temesvar, and scratched their heads. The 
" scrap of paper " had a familiar ring ; there was some- 
thing about the phrase that sounded like ancient his- 
tory, and so it was, for it antedated the League of Na- 
tions and the Fourteen Points, and the coming of the 
Prince of the Hedjaz, and the merry war between 
friends in Paris. It was in the first days of the Great 
War that the neutrality of Belgium had been riddled 
like a sieve, and it was in that first year — 1914 — that 
Bethmann Hollweg, chancellor of the German Empire, 
characterized the treaty which guaranteed it as a " scrap 
of paper." 

Never before was a treaty defended like this, with 
blood and treasure and unmeasured sacrifice. 

194 



THE FOUETEEN^ POINTS 195 

" Well, now," said the men who sat in judgment on 
a world, ^^ what would you have us do about it ? " 

" Belgium wants a new treaty," said M. Hymans. 
'^ The arrangement of 1839 failed to keep us out of 
the war. I^ow we want a real treaty that will." 

As a matter of fact, there were three treaties of 1839, 
and originally there were four. To go back to ancient 
history, these four treaties were signed in London on 
April 19, 1839. The first treaty was between the five 
great powers of that day — England, France, Russia, 
Prussia, and Austria on the one hand^ and Belgium on 
the other; the second between these five powers and 
the Netherlands, and containing virtually identical 
clauses; the third between Belgium and the Nether- 
lands. The fourth treaty was between the five powers 
and the Germanic Confederation, and did not bear par- 
ticularly on Belgium, but on Luxemburg; however, it 
established certain precedents, which came in oppor- 
tunely in 1919. This treaty became inoperative when 
the confederation dissolved after the defeat of Austria 
by Prussia at Sadowa in 1866. 

Looking backward, it cannot be said that the treaties 
did not serve their purpose fairly well, as treaties go; 
for in the seventy-five years that lie between 1839 and 
1914 they had more than once proved the barrier to 
aggression by way of the great Belgian plain. And 
scares there had been a-plenty, even one or two wars, 
notably the Eranco-Prussian War of 1870, which might 
easily have led to a violation of Belgian territory had 
the bond not been held sacred by the leaders of that day. 
Yet while the German general staff planned its invasion 



196 THE ADVENTURES OF 

of France by way of Belgium, the German diplomats 
protested that Germany would never repudiate the 
treaties. Thus as late as 1911, when it was reported 
that Germany meant to violate Belgian territory when 
the Dutch scheme to fortify Flushing brought about a 
crisis, Bethmann Hollweg informed the Belgian ambas- 
sador at Berlin solemnly that Germany had no intention 
of disregarding the covenant. And again in 1913, 
Jagow, German secretary of state for foreign affairs, de- 
clared : " The neutrality of Belgium is settled by in- 
ternational conventions, which Germany is resolved to 
respect," and Heeringen, minister for war, said: 
'' Germany will not lose sight of the fact that the neu- 
trality of Belgium is guaranteed by international 
treaties." There could be no question that Germany 
properly and publicly acknowledged that the German 
Empire was the rightful successor to the obligations of 
Prussia and was bound by Prussia's signatures to the 
treaties of 1839. 

Now came a delicate point: the conference had met 
to make peace with Germany, not to meddle with the 
affairs of neutral nations. And the Netherlands was 
a neutral nation, yet involved in the Belgian treaties. 
Was the conference empowered to take up with the 
Netherlands the discussion of the treaties? M. Hy- 
mans contended that it was. Moreover, here was a 
wonderful opportunity for the Netherlands to set her- 
self right before the world, for the treaties of 1839 had 
been forced down the throat of the new Belgian king- 
dom, then just liberated from Dutch rule, and the con- 
ditions they imposed were such as to help stifle the eco- 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 19Y 

nomic life of Belgium and give extraordinary advan- 
tages to the Netherlands. M. Hymans had visualized 
this opportunity as well as any one. The scrap of pa- 
per had been torn up, and Belgium needed a nev^ piece 
of parchment to guarantee her position in Europe. 
Alone she could not hope to wring concessions from the 
Netherlands; but backed by the Allies, it would be a 
different matter. The Central powers no longer counted 
in diplomatic intercourse. With pressure brought to 
bear on her, the Netherlands could not properly resist. 

M. Hymans made his plea before the Council of Ten 
on February 11. The council turned the matter over 
to a commission of two delegates from each of the five 
great powers, under M. Andre Tardieu, to determine 
the jurisdiction of the Peace Conference. M. Tardieu 
reported on March 8. His report dwelt on three 
points : first, that the treaties must be revised ; secondly, 
that they could not be separated, and must be revised 
as a whole; thirdly, that nations not originally signa- 
tories might take part in the revision. His report set 
forth that " the three treaties negotiated against Bel- 
gium and imposed upon her and the Netherlands by the 
great powers have furnished to Belgium none of the 
guarantees which they had promised her, have seriously 
diminished by their territorial and fluvial articles her 
possibilities of defense, and are largely responsible for 
the prejudice she has suffered.'' 

Here comes the part played by the precedents estab- 
lished by the obsolete treaty with the Germanic Con- 
federation. After the defeat of Austria at Sadowa by 
Prussia in 1866, the Germanic Confederation was dis- 



198 THE ADVE]N^TURES OF 

solved, and a contention over Luxemburg arose between 
Prussia and France vs^hich might easily have led to war. 
The King of the Netherlands, who was also Grand Duke 
of Luxemburg, a title conferred bj the Congress of 
Vienna when it gave Luxemburg to the house of Orange, 
called a conference of all the powers signatory to the 
treaties of 1839 to revise them, and this met in London 
on May 7, 1867. Baron Bentinck, speaking for the 
king at that meeting, considered the four treaties as a 
whole, although only one was in question. At the same 
time Italy was invited to take part in the conference, 
and was welcomed by the Netherlands, although Italy 
was not a party to the treaties. This established the 
precedents for the action of 1919.' 

The members of the American mission did not all 
agree to this at first, and I recall a conversation with 
one of them in which he said that revision of the treaties 
might properly be undertaken by a commission not re- 
lated to the Peace Conference, or made later when the 
League of Nations became operative ; but that the con- 
ference was concerned primarily with the terms of peace. 
But America had a special interest in Belgium, for the 
seventh of the Fourteen Points read in a clear, explicit 
language : ^' Belgium, the whole w^orld will agree, must 
be evacuated and restored, without any attempt to limit 
the sovereignty which she enjoys in common with all 
other free nations. No other single act will serve as 
this will serve, to restore confidence among the nations 
in the laws which they have themselves set and de- 
termined for the government of their relations with one 
another. Without this healing act the whole structure 



THE POUKTEEK POINTS 199 

and validity of international law is forever impaired." 
On the strength of this declaration America might well 
support the Tardieu report, which it did. 

M. Hymans is an astute diplomat, a most clever 
statesman. When he first came before the Council of 
Ten he did not formulate any claims, but he merely ex- 
plained the situation that confronted Belgium. He 
spoke of the need for better guaranties of the independ- 
ence of Belgium ; of the inconveniences to Belgian com- 
merce by the present regulation of the Scheldt (Escaut) 
and the Terneuzen Canal; of the need of combining 
Antwerp with the Mouse and the Rhine ; of the Belgian 
desire for certain cantons which had been joined to 
Prussian provinces by the Congress of Vienna; and of 
Belgian aspirations to some sort of political or eco- 
nomic understanding with Luxemburg. What he said 
was sufficient to cause general consternation and unrest 
in the ISTetherlands. The Dutch press immediately ac- 
cused the Belgians of imperialistic ideas, of aspiring to 
the rights and territories of a neutral nation, and al- 
though some of these charges were justified by what ap- 
peared in the newspapers of Belgium, the Dutch atti- 
tude was not entirely called for, in view of the fact 
that the Netherlands had been largely benefited by the 
dubious treaties of 1839. The Dutch Government, 
however, on February 18 sent a memorandum to Brus- 
sels, asking that the Belgian Government communicate 
to the Netherlands the claims affecting Holland which 
M. Hymans had placed before the conference. 

The Council of Ten adopted the Tardieu report and 
sent an invitation to the Netherlands to attend a con- 



200 THE ADVENTUEES OF 

ference on the treaties. The Netherlands agreed to 
appoint delegates '' to make known its point of view 
with regard to revision." The council then appointed a 
commission composed of the ministers of foreign affairs 
of the five great powers — in the case of the United 
States, the secretary of state - — and representatives of 
Belgium and the Netherlands. This body held three 
meetings, on May 19 and 20 and June 3. 

At the first session M. Hymans presented Belgium's 
case. This statement gives so clearly an understanding 
of the needs of modern Belgium that I may be pardoned 
here for going into the subject at length, and for sup- 
plementing M. Hyman's argument with information 
that I gathered in the course of a visit to Belgium a few 
weeks before this meeting took place in Paris. Bel- 
gium will always occupy a position of importance in 
European politics; for hundreds of years its develop- 
ment has been dominated by strategic and economic con- 
siderations, and one power after another has attempted 
to make them serve its ends. Belgium has suffered 
greatly in the war, but the world is concerned chiefly 
with her reestablishment and restoration, and has little 
idea of the problems that Belgium must solve if she 
would again become a prosperous industrial and agri- 
cultural state. 

M. Hymans first set forth that the Scheldt was really 
a Belgian river because it served only Belgian inter- 
ests. On the Scheldt depends the prosperity of Ant- 
werp and the whole country. The arrangement of 
1839 placed the administration of the river under the 
joint surveillance of the Netherlands and Belgium, 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 201 

which caused the upkeep of the river to depend on the 
consent of the Netherlands, which is the sovereign 
over the lower Scheldt, and whose ports are rivals of 
Antwerp. Belgium wishes the power to administer the 
river, to make all the necessary improvements without 
any one's consent, in order to serve the needs of com- 
merce. Belgium claims the free disposal of the river 
in war and peace, and sovereignty over the Scheldt, its 
dependencies, and the canal of Terneuzen, which unites 
Ghent with the sea. 

The story of the port of Antwerp is the story of a 
fight against tremendous odds. Time and again inter- 
ested nations have damaged its prosperity, although it 
is the natural port for the Continent. It has been re- 
stricted for the benefit of France, the Netherlands, and 
Germany. At one time it was closed altogether. But 
time and again its merchants have argued its cause, and 
at last they have been granted a hearing. The demands 
of the chamber of commerce of Antwerp, made early in 
1919, may be interesting in this connection: first, the 
suppression by France of all surtaxes imposed on all 
merchandise destined for France which enters by way 
of Antwerp; second, the annexation of the Maestricht 
district of the Netherlands in order to liberate the nav- 
igation between Antwerp and the Liege basin from for- 
eign control ; third, the construction of a canal from the 
Ehine to Antwerp, costs for which were to be partly 
assessed against Germany; fourth, the construction of 
this canal across the Limburg district of the Nether- 
lands to connect the Rhine and Antwerp; fifth, full 
control over the Scheldt. 



202 THE ADVENTURES OF 

M. Hymans presented the following summary of the 
Belgian demands on the subject of the Scheldt and 
other waters : 

1. The relation to the western Scheldt and the prob- 
lems connected therewith : 

(a) The free disposal of the access to the sea along 
the Scheldt; that is, the rights of sovereignty over the 
whole course of the western Scheldt between the sea- 
dikes or subordinate dikes, and as far as the open sea ; 
besides over all waters belonging to the western Scheldt ; 
also over the canal and railway from Ghent to Ter- 
neuzen, and also over the mouth of the canal, where 
it discharges into the western Scheldt. 

(b) The recognition by the Netherlands of the neces- 
sity for Belgium, for the defense of her territory, of 
supporting herself on the lower Scheldt over its whole 
course, and of the right to make use of this river with 
full freedom and at all times for her defense, which 
carries with it the consequence that the Netherlands 
should renounce all military measures which might in- 
terfere in the exercise of this right by Belgium. 

(c) The control by Belgium of the locks serving for 
the draining of Flanders. 

(d) The redressing of the grievances of the Belgian 
fishermen of Bouchaute. 

2. With reference to the waters of communication 
between the western Scheldt and the lower Rhine, es- 
pecially the making at common cost of a canal with a 
large vertical section from Antwerp to Moerdyk in sub- 
stitution of the waterways contemplated by the treaties 
of 1839. 



THE EOUKTEEN POINTS 203 

3. With reference to Dutch Limburg: 

(a) The establishment in southern Limburg of a 
regime which shall guarantee Belgium against the dan- 
gers to her safety resulting from the configuration of 
this region, and which shall give to Belgium a guaranty 
for her economic interests, which are prejudiced by 
regulations affecting the land and water territory of 
the treaties of 1839. 

(b) A waterway with a large vertical section, Ehine- 
Meuse-Scheldt. 

4. With reference to Bar-le-Duc (also known as 
Baarle-Hertog and Baarle-Nassau) ; an arrangement 
putting an end to the inconveniences resulting from the 
present intermingling of Belgian and Dutch territory. 

M. Hymans said that the prosperity of Antwerp de- 
pends on its communications with the Rhine hinterland 
and the basin of the Meuse. These communications 
meet an obstacle in Limburg, which was separated from 
Belgium in 1839. The enclave of Maestricht on the 
left bank of the Meuse is at present highly detrimental 
to Belgian commerce. Belgium wanted the territory 
from Maestricht to Ruremonde, so that Belgian vessels 
on the Meuse may pass solely through Belgian territory. 

The prosperity of Ghent is connected with control of 
its outlet to the sea — the canal of Terneuzen, which 
was built in 1827, before the separation. This canal 
is controlled at its mouth by the Netherlands, and here 
also restrictive measures are enforced, making the ter- 
minal harbor wholly dependent on Holland. While 
these conferences were going on, a group of Belgian 
engineers who had been associated with the waterways 



204 THE ADVENTURES OF 

of Belgium came to Paris and made its headquarters 
at the Hotel Lotti, the seat of the Belgian delegation. 
They gave the following facts about the canal: it is 
thirty-two kilometers in length, with seventeen kilo- 
meters in Belgium and fifteen in Dutch territory. In 
Belgium all navigable ports have channels twenty-six 
meters wide, whereas in the Netherlands they vary from 
fifteen to twenty-six meters. At Terneuzen there is 
only a depth of 5.12 meters at low water, while at high 
water only vessels with a maximum draught of 8.25 
meters can get through. The canal was enlarged in 
1895 and 1902, both times after years of obstruction 
by the Netherlands, at the expense of Belgium and giv- 
ing the most unusual concessions to the Netherlands, 
such as the right to close the locks " whenever the Dutch 
Government will deem it useful to safeguard Dutch in- 
terests." By order of the Dutch Government vessels 
over 140 meters long and 7 meters wide and drawing 
more than 8 meters are forbidden to go through the 
new lock at Terneuzen. With regard to fog-signals, 
guiding-lights, speed regulations, etc., there also are 
difficulties between Holland and Belgium. The whole 
situation discloses the most amazing misuse of its nat- 
ural advantages by the Netherlands against a neutral 
nation that was not in a position to enforce its demands. 

Two questions were posed by M. Hymans, for consid- 
eration by the commission. They were: 

1. Can the Mouse line, which is the Belgian first line 
of defense, be sufficiently defended and held under the 
territorial conditions established by the treaties of 1839, 



THE FOUKTEEN POi:^TS 205 

which have notably placed the city of Maestricht in the 
hands of the ^Netherlands ? 

2. Can the Scheldt line, the principal line of defense 
for Belgium and a line naturally strong, be held ef- 
fectively without Belgium having to support her de- 
fense upon the whole course of the river ? 

The N^etherlands was represented by M. van Karne- 
beek, the Dutch minister of foreign affairs. At the ses- 
sion of June 3 he presented the position of the Gov- 
ernment of the Netherlands to the Belgian demands. 
He said first that the integrity of Dutch land and wa- 
ter could not be brought into question ; second, that the 
separation of Belgium and the Netherlands could not 
be taken up anew on other principles than those con- 
tained in the treaties of 1839 ; third, that his Govern- 
ment was ready to examine in principle the points af- 
fecting the navigation and economic interests of Bel- 
gium; finally, that the Government feels that the mili- 
tary question must be left in cadre of the League of 
Nations. 

On June 3 the French minister of foreign affairs, 
acting for his colleagues on the commission, sent the 
following statement to the Belgian and Dutch repre- 
sentatives : 

The powers, who have recognized the necessity of a revision of 
the treaties of 1839, entrust to a commission comprising the rep- 
resentatives of the United States of America, the British Em- 
pire, France, Italy, Japan, Belgium and the Netherlands, the 
task of studying the measures which must result from the revision, 
and of making proposals which may not involve transfer of ter- 
ritorial sovereignty or the establishment of international servi- 
tudes. The commission will invite Belgium and the Netherlands 



206 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

to submit common formulas with reference to the navigable wa- 
terways, allowing themselves to be guided in so doing by the gen- 
eral principles accepted by the Peace Conference. 

This was a victory for the Netherlands, a defeat for 
Belgium. The powers said that there would be no 
transfer of territorial sovereignty. Belgium's aspira- 
tions, therefore, to possess Maestricht and the lobe of 
Limburg, and perhaps even that part of Dutch Zealand, 
which lies south of the Scheldt, received no support 
from the powers. M. van Karnebeek was cognizant of 
the diplomatic victory he had won, for on June 6 he 
said to the second chamber of the Netherlands at The 
Hague: 

The importance of this arrangement lies herein — that a change 
of territorial sovereignty has been set aside, while in the sec- 
ond part the way is indicated which leads to common deliberation 
and common settlement by the two powers most affected. It is my 
impression that on this footing the Netherlands can participate 
in the further course of the international controversy. As far 
as our relations with Belgium are concerned, the government will 
continue to be guided by the thought that the spirit which is 
aroused between the two nations is more important than the 
formulas which bind states. The Netherlands, which, as is known, 
stands on its rights, has given sufficient proofs that it does not 
wish to live otherwise than in peace and friendship with Belgium. 
It desires this for the future also, notwithstanding the threat 
which arose from the neighboring country and has now been 
abandoned. 

M. Hymans on the other hand, in speaking before 
the chamber in Brussels, said that the Belgian Govern- 
ment gave its adherence to the resolution of the powers, 
adding that it was well understood that the procedure 
indicated did not prevent the examination of all meas- 
ures indispensable for abolishing the risks and incon- 
veniences to which Belgium and peace generally was 



THE FOUETEEN^ POINTS 207 

exposed under the terms of the treaties of 1839, and for 
guaranteeing to Belgium full liberty for its economic 
development as well as its complete security. He con- 
cluded by saying : 

The work of revising the treaties of 1839 is about to com- 
mence. It will take long. It will not lack the best eflForts of the 
government and will receive the full support of the nation. 
Opinion should not exaggerate, but remain firm and confident of 
the outcome. Our cause is just and must triumph. 

Thus the annexation movement in Belgium that was 
directed against the Netherlands died in the Peace Con- 
ference. An interesting side-light to this situation is 
furnished by ^^ Het Volk," the Dutch socialist newspa- 
per. It says that if the Belgian annexation movement 
is dead, the credit should go to the steadfast opposition 
of the socialist members of the Belgian cabinet, men 
like Vandervelde, Anseele, and Wauters. 

Assured of the friendship of the great powers, Bel- 
gium may well expect many of the burdens imposed by 
the treaties of 1839 to be removed and an entirely new, 
bombproof parchment substituted for the tattered 
" scrap of paper." And as it turned out later, Ger- 
many's consent to any agreement which the Allies and 
the associated powers might enter into with Belgium and 
the Netherlands was provided for in the treaty of 
peace, according to which Germany agrees to observe 
it and to give her formal adhesion immediately, should 
it be required. 

But if the powers stopped any Belgian plans of ex- 
pansion at the expense of the Netherlands, they looked 
favorably on the desire of Belgium to annex Prussian 



208 THE ADVENTURES OF 

Wallonia, or Malmedy, and Moresnet, a neutral terri- 
tory located at the point where the boundaries of the 
Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium meet. The an- 
nexation of Prussian Wallonia was advocated by the 
Walloons of Belgium and opposed to a mild extent by 
the Flemish part of the Belgian population, and thereby 
hangs a long story which touches on the delicate in- 
ternal situation in Belgium itself — the fight between 
the Flemings and the Walloons for supremacy in this 
little nation. 

When the Peace Conference was considering the pro- 
posals of Belgium, Colonel House received a telegram 
from a so-called Flemish committee of The Hague, pur- 
porting to act in the name of " the oppressed people of 
Flanders," and asking him to bring before the confer- 
ence the position of the Flemings in Belgium. The ar- 
guments advanced by this committee are those regularly 
heard in Flemish circles of Belgium, and in brief are 
as follows: Belgium is divided between the French- 
speaking Walloons, who are descendants of the Ro- 
mans and Belgse, and who speak French, and the Flem- 
ings, who are Teutonic and speak Flemish, a tongue 
very similar to Dutch. The Flemings assert that the 
French element, being in control of the Government, has 
used its power to advance French as the native tongue, 
instead of Flemish, and has virtually shut the Flemings 
out from the universities, public offices, and political 
life when they do not speak French. It is understood 
that the Walloons so far have had a majority, but the 
Flemings charge that these figures have been juggled 
and that in reality Belgium is preponderatingly Flem- 



THE rOUETEE:^^ POINTS 209 

ish, and that eighty per cent, of the soldiers in the army 
were Elemish, but were commanded in the French 
tongue. The Flemings ask autonomy as part of their 
movement to reestablish Flemish civilization and cul- 
ture ; they seek a federation of two self-governing parts 
of Belgium, with Flemish schools, courts, and govern- 
ment offices in all Flemish districts, and the regional 
system in the army. All this in the telegram to Colonel 
House. 

The French-speaking Government of Belgium is nat- 
urally opposed to this program. It sets forth that the 
Flemish element is not chronically discontented, but is 
being used by crafty politicians to further their own 
ends. Two languages in the army are opposed by 
every military authority who has observed the havoc 
wrought by this system in old Austria-Hungary. It 
also charges that to stir up the Flemish people is the 
favorite pastime of the German Government, which 
plays on the Teutonic strain and thereby hopes at length 
to disrupt Belgium and take the Flemish districts, in- 
cluding the port of Antwerp. There is no doubt that 
Germany laid the foundation for exactly that sort of 
policy during the war by her support of the activist 
movement, and by proclaiming the council of Flanders 
under the protection of German bayonets in the Alham- 
bra Theater in Brussels in 1918. The Germans rein- 
stituted a Flemish faculty in the University of Ghent, 
and opened Flemish normal schools at Laeken and Uccle. 
The better element of Flemings, however, repulsed the 
overtures of the enemy. The fine record for loyalty 
achieved by the Flemish soldiers in the Belgian Army 



210 THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 

is sufficient to prove that this back-fire availed the Ger- 
mans nothing. A recent attempt on the part of a small 
Flemish element to embarrass the Government in a de- 
bate in the chamber led to an outright government vic- 
tory, and indicated that the country was well satisfied 
with the cabinet headed by M. Delacroix, which includes 
such able men as M. Hymans, M. Jules Eenkin, and M. 
Emile Vandervelde, perhaps the leading representatives 
in Belgium respectively of the liberal, Catholic, and so- 
cialist parties. 

The little country that held out so bravely during the 
war, that fought so doggedly on the little stretch of 
sandy plain in Elanders, which was all of Belgium that 
did not fall into the hands of the enemy, carried on its 
campaign in Paris just as courageously and energet- 
ically, determined to win at all costs every advantage 
which would further the growth and prosperity of this 
little realm. Technical advisers, lawmakers, scientists, 
engineers, diplomats crowded the corridors of the Hotel 
Lotti on the Rue Castiglione, where the Belgian colors 
hung draped over the arcades and where soldiers in the 
khaki of the Belgian Army stood guard day and night. 
Here labored MM. Hymans, Vandenheuvel, and Van- 
dervelde, and every once in a while they were reen- 
forced by a tall, sandy-haired youngish-looking man of 
erect bearing and modest address, for whom the sentinels 
clicked a salute in short order. It was Albert, no less a 
diplomat than a king. 



CHAPTEE XII 

The eighth point wins a splendid victory, and then comes the 
Saar basin, and the whole fourteen suffer an eclipse. 

" And the wrong done to Trance bv Prussia in 1871 
and the matter of Alsace-Lorraine, which has unsettled 
the peace of the world for nearly fifty years, should be 
righted.'' 

It was the eighth commandment of the fourteen, and 
it was running through my head, repeating itself over 
and over, as our train glided through the low-lying 
meadow-lands of the Alsatian foot-hills. Again and 
again it kept time to the click of the rails and the 
thumping of the trucks, and when my eye traveled up 
to the western sky and followed those proud hills, 
capped with a coronet of battlemented towers, the 
thought came back to me that this was the land that 
France had gathered back into the fold as a mother 
gathers her daughter into her arms. And I recalled 
what Marshal Joffre had said to the little girl in the 
quaint Alsatian costume: 

" You are Alsace ; I am France. I bring you the 
kiss of France." 

I turned to a member of the French official party 
who was sitting close by, gazing out of the car-window 
with a preoccupied look. He was a fine scholar, 4 
French savant who had traveled much, 

211 



212 THE ADVENTURES OF 

" I know what you are thinking about," I volun- 
teered ; and as he turned, " about Alsace." 

" Yes," he replied, and nodded slowly. 

" I wonder if it will look different to you now that 
it has become French," I said. 

^' I have never seen Alsace," he replied quietly and, 
I thought, somewhat sadly ; ^' this is my first visit, too. 
I could not bear to come here then/' 

His answer was typical of the feeling in the hearts 
of many fine Frenchmen, for few had the heart to view 
Alsace and Lorraine under the German heel. Many 
of the wounds of the war of 1870-71 had healed with 
the passing of that generation, but remembrance did not 
die out. There were ready and willing hands, it 
seemed, to keep green the garlands laid at the base of 
the statue of Strasburg in the Place de la Concorde, and 
before the memorial to Turenne at the Invalides. 
There were writers, too, ready to plead the cause of the 
lost provinces ; not, perhaps, with the fire and spirit of 
the circle that gathered in the salon of Mme. Juliette 
Adam as the nineteenth century drew to a close, but 
with as great a degree of devotion and zeal. Alsace and 
Lorraine became symbols of martyrdom. When the 
war came, the old wounds opened anew, and possession 
of these lands became the cherished war aim of France. 
When the tricolor flew from the spire of the cathedral 
of Strasburg, it was not as if it had been unfurled over 
a conquered land ; it was the flag of the mother-country, 
back again after a long exile. 

Alsace and Lorraine were back in the fold now. The 
wrong that had been done to France had been righted, 



THE rOUETEEN POINTS 213 

or at least was about to be righted. I mentioned the 
matter to my French friend. 

" The return of Alsace and Lorraine was one of the 
aims for which France fought/' he said, ^^ and it was 
so stated in the Fourteen Points by President Wilson, 
which were agreed to by the Germans. Although, as a 
matter of fact," he added, " your President's statement 
was a bit ambiguous." 

" You mean with regard to righting the wrong ? " I 
asked. 

" Exactly," he replied. " We should have preferred 
the plain statement that the provinces shall be returned 
to France. Germany is even now saying that the eighth 
point does not rule out a plebiscite, and is making capi- 
tal out of the President's stand for the right of peo- 
ples to choose their own political destiny." 

" But there will be no plebiscite in Alsace and Lor- 
raine ? " I continued. 

" Of course not. We have never acknowledged that 
we ever relinquished ownership and title. We merely 
gave up the provinces under force and under protest. 
So we are not obligated either by a written word or 
morally to put the matter to a plebiscite now. And, as 
a matter of fact," he added as he looked out over the 
roofs and towers of the great city which we were now 
entering, " I am rather glad that we do not have to 
put it to the test." 

The train stopped just then in the central station of 
Strasburg, and I could not pursue the subject farther. 
There were bags to be looked after, and raincoats and 
umbrellas to be produced, for we were landing in a 



214 THE ADVENTURES OF 

mild, drizzling rain. I did not think of his remark 
again until we paraded out of the station into the great 
square beyond, and I beheld a city which flew the tri- 
color and yet had something about it that was different 
from any French city I had ever known ; in which even 
the doors and the window-frames and the roofs had a 
distinctive architecture, and where the lettering of the 
shopkeepers' signs was in a new kind of script, and 
where these signs frequently displayed names that had 
no apparent relation to the newly painted " maison 
frangaise " below them. I caught up with my friend, 
who was going forward with wide-open eyes, but a 
closed mouth, taking in scenes of which he had heard 
much, but which he had never seen. 

^' I think I know what you meant back there in the 
wagon/' I resumed. '^ You meant this," and I indi- 
cated the sign-boards. 

" They were here close to forty-nine years," he re- 
plied almost irrelevantly, " and they began their das- 
tardly work almost the day they arrived — began it with 
the conscious plan of making Alsace and Lorraine a 
part of the empire. That 's nearly half a century. 
Pretty long — too long when the ruler is one who never 
sleeps, who never forgets his object, who has eternally 
in view the aim of uniting these lands to him by ties 
that will overcome the call of duty, nationality, religion, 
honor. I suppose that if we came to count heads now, 
we would find a mighty lot of Germans here. And yet 
that would not be justice. Others should be counted — 
others who once lived here, but who went over the 
Vosges and sought new homes in other departments of 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 215 

France. And then there are the dead, who were 
robbed and despoiled, and who are silent now. And 
yet many of these people about us who speak German 
fluently, and their own Alsatian patois, at heart are true 
to France." 

There was much wisdom in what he said. Germany 
might well appeal to the Peace Conference for a pleb- 
iscite in Alsace and Lorraine, for there was always the 
possibility of organizing a turbulent, obstructive mi- 
nority. The Germans had exploited these lands, had 
colonized them, had Germanized them. The dead could 
not vote, or the exiled ; only the living, and it had been 
nearly fifty years since the provinces were torn from 
the side of France. In that half-century great changes 
had taken place. Alsace and Lorraine had been agri- 
cultural provinces, producing wheat, rye, oats, barley, 
potatoes, roots, and vegetables. In 1871 a slight ma- 
jority of the inhabitants had been farmers, and now 
only thirty per cent, of the population was working 
the farms. Not that farming had retrogressed. A 
great industry had come to life after the Germans took 
possession; mines had been developed, great waterways 
had been built, mills and smelters had been reared and 
an active shipping life had been stimulated. Stras- 
burg had become one of the great inland ports of the 
German Empire. In 1907, out of 1,820,249 inhabi- 
tants in Alsace and Lorraine, 551,658, or 30.3 per 
cent., had been engaged in agricultural pursuits; 730,- 
952, or 40.2 per cent., in mining and in industries; and 
221,953, or 12.2 per cent., in commerce or trade. Vir- 
tually the whole of that industrial life and a great part 



216 THE ADVENTURES OF 

of that commerce and trade had been built up by Ger- 
mans, many of whom had immigrated from other parts 
of the empire. Most of the railway functionaries were 
Germans, for the lines of Alsace and Lorraine were an 
integral part of the German railway system, and in 
their great mills and mines the owners had purposely 
favored the German element. 

In the course of the next few days I was to have am- 
ple opportunity to see what a wonderful land had come 
back to France, and to learn what changes had been 
wrought here in the years of German tenancy. Stras- 
burg was once known to fame as the city of the great 
cathedral. I found it now the fourth largest port on 
the Ehine, a great distributing-center which gave oc- 
cupation to thousands of merchants, shippers, and 
freight-handlers. In 1913 the gross water traffic had 
been just a little less than 2,000,000 tons. The Ger- 
mans had attempted to regulate the shifting sands of 
the Rhine; they had carved a harbor out of the little 
island that lies in the stream just beyond what Stras- 
burg calls the Little Rhine; in fact, two great har- 
bors had been cut here, lined with concrete and stone, 
and provided with all the appurtenances needed to serve 
an extensive carrying trade, such as a municipal ware- 
house with a capacity of 160,000 sacks of grain; an- 
other with a capacity of 180,000 sacks, and leased be- 
fore the war to Mannheim interests; granaries, flour- 
mills, and factories. The supplies that came into these 
harbors moved over all the inland waterways of Ger- 
many, and there are many. They passed over the 
Rhine-Marne Canal, famous now in American history 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 217 

as the waterway where the Germans first found Ameri- 
can soldiers; over the Rhine canal to Mulhouse and 
Basel, which, when extended, will reach Marseilles. 
Heretofore Strasburg had looked eastward for commer- 
cial development, and there had been immense advan- 
tages in trading with the German states, and disadvan- 
tages in trading with France, so that the channels of 
communication to the west had been neglected. Now 
Strasburg was on the eve of another commercial de- 
velopment. The waterways to the west were to be en- 
larged and extended; France would endeavor to open 
up trade with Switzerland, and perhaps with the cen- 
tral European lands, and would try to make Bordeaux, 
Nantes, and St. Nazaire the ports for shipping that for 
years had entered by way of Antwerp and the Dutch 
harbors. French engineers also had laid plans for 
making Brest, Cherbourg, and Pallice ports of the first 
rank, and Professor Hauser of Dijon University had 
outlined a scheme for the canalization of the upper 
Loire and the construction of a Raonne-Givors canal, 
which would make it possible to convey coal from the 
Loire district, and American goods from St. Nazaire 
to Geneva. The upper Loire could connect with the 
Rhine by means of the Loire Canal, Givors and the Cen- 
tral and Rhone canals. Strasburg might become in the 
near future a great distributing center for American 
goods. 

Across the bridges of the Rhine we whirled, past the 
spot where in revolutionary times the sentinel of France 
stood with his musket beside the sign-board that read, 
'^ Ici commence le Pays de la Liberie/' The legend 



S18 THE ADVENTUBES OF 

might well be raised again, after a lapse of more than 
a hundred years, for the Rhine was once again the 
dividing-line between two theories of government. 

On the other side of the Rhine from Strasburg, in 
the grand duchy of Baden, lies Kehl. Kehl is not only 
a port, but it possesses possibilities of development, and 
while it may not divide honors with Strasburg, yet in 
hostile hands it may become a strong rival. It was this 
subject that one of the French members of our party 
touched on as we passed through this town. 

" We cannot properly permit a rival to grow up be- 
side Strasburg while we are endeavoring to build up 
new means of communication with France," he said. 
" The reason is obvious. With all their waterways and 
railroads centering here, it would be an easy matter for 
the Germans to divert all their Strasburg trade to Kehl, 
and so rob us of this trade before we had an opportunity 
to develop our waterways and railroads. It would ruin 
Strasburg as a port. So we are going to propose to 
the Peace Conference that Kehl and Strasburg shall 
be treated as a unit in the negotiations. We cannot ask 
sovereignty over a part of Baden, but we can ask that 
Kehl be placed under the commission which will regu- 
late the affairs of the Rhine under the treaty of peace. 
What do you think the Peace Conference will do about 
it?'' 

As a matter of fact, what my French friend meant to 
ask was, what the American mission meant to do about 
it, for he knew perfectly well that under the European 
political code the mere inclusion of a few Germans 
more or less in French territory meant nothing. But 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 219 

President Wilson stood for the rights of nationalities 
and had distinctly declared himself against annexation 
of what was obviously foreign territory, and the atti- 
tude the Americans might take in the light of these 
pronouncements was what disconcerted our associates. 
Moreover, Mr. Henry White, the American representa- 
tive on the commission on ports, waterways, and rail- 
ways had not proved so amenable to the wishes of some 
of our Allies with regard to regulation of German wa- 
terways as they had hoped, and there was a feeling that 
Belgium and France might not gain all the economic 
advantages they expected to get now that Germany lay 
prostrate. The subject of Kehl was, nevertheless, a 
moot point ; my friend had stated the case exactly, and 
it turned out later that the commission on waterways 
had been led to accept this view, for an examination of 
the treaty of peace discloses that Article 65, under Sec- 
tion V, which relates to Alsace and Lorraine, stipulates 
that for seven years the ports of Kehl and Strasburg 
shall be treated as a unit, administered by a manager 
appointed by the Central Rhine commission, who shall 
be French ; all property rights being safeguarded ; equal- 
ity of treatment of the nationals of both countries be- 
ing provided for, and the reservation made that in the 
event France does not find seven years sufficient for de- 
veloping her port, she may ask for an extension of 
time not to succeed three years. 

If the possession of Strasburg meant a new impetus 
to the development of waterways in France, the return 
of Alsace and Lorraine meant no less to the railway 
systems of France. These too needed development to 



220 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

satisfy the Erench needs for communications. At the 
time of the armistice there were 2,694 miles of railways 
in the two provinces, employing 11,786 officials and 
employees with rank, 1,984 minor employees and 18,- 
338 laborers, with a rolling stock that included 1,131 
locomotives, 2,281 passenger-carriages, and 27,955 
freight-cars. The roads were operated successfully, — 
there was a profit in 1918 of $12,710,155,— but rail- 
way connections with France left much to be desired. 
Until 1914 there were only two lines across the Yosges, 
for military reasons ; in the south the line running from 
Paris to Mulhouse by the Valdieu gap, and in the north 
the line from Paris to Strasburg through the cut at 
Saverne. Four lines, however, ran into French Lor- 
raine: the line from Nancy to Chateau-Salins, that 
from Nancy to Metz, that from Verdun to Metz, and 
that from Mezieres to Thionville. France had now be- 
gun to build a line from Saint-Die to Saales with mili- 
tary labor, crossing the Meurthe near the Saint-Die sta- 
tion, following the valley of the Fave, and at the Saale 
pass joining the railway line which connects this dis- 
trict with Strasburg. A second line will connect 
Epinal with St.-Maurice in the upper valley of the 
Moselle. This line will establish direct connection be- 
tween the industrial centers of the Moselle valley, in- 
cluding Thaon, Epinal, and Rupt, and those of the val- 
ley of Wesserling and Mulhouse, and will make possible 
a direct line from Antwerp to Milan. It will cost 50,- 
000,000 francs to build. Leaving St.-Maurice, it will 
pass through the Tete des Neuf Bois by a tunnel to the 
valley of Urbes, pass to Pont Rouge la Thiir and south 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 221 

of the Felleringen to Wesserling. A third line will run 
across the central Vosges, connecting the middle of Al- 
sace with the eastern departments of France. It will 
mean a connection between St.-Die and Ste.-Marie aux 
Mines, joining St.-Die, Kancj, Epinal, and Ste.-Marie 
Schlestadt, Benfeld, and Colmar. It will require only 
one tunnel, and will shorten the distance between IN'ancy 
and Colmar by rail from 198 to 126 kilometers. This 
gives direct access to the woolen- and cotton-spinning 
and weaving region. Another development is the like- 
lihood of connecting certain railway lines in Alsace and 
Lorraine in the near future, to give a direct line to 
Prague, which is needed if Czecho-Slovakia is to be 
kept within the Entente sphere of influence. French 
engineers may soon be working at this scheme in Bo- 
hemia, where about fifty kilometers of railway will have 
to be constructed to make the dream a fact. 

The imperial German emblems were still on the 
bridge across the Khine at this strategic point, and the 
approach was encumbered by the remains of a barri- 
cade that had been hurriedly erected in the last days 
of the Great War. My French friend spoke of the em- 
blems as we returned to Strasburg. 

" They are coming down in a few days,^' he said. 
^' The municipal council has decided to replace them 
with reliefs of Professors Kuss and Arnold, two mem- 
bers of the faculty of our old University of Strasburg, 
who were persecuted for their political views in 1871." 

It was typical of the French that they had been in 
no hurry to remove the imperial emblems. Alsace and 
Lorraine were French again, and the mere fact that 



222 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

there was a German emblem here and there did not ap- 
pear of consequence. Quietly, but thoroughly, the 
French went forward to make the provinces an integral 
part of France. The French showed no hesitation 
about removing Germans from important places of trust 
and in loosening the German grip on the trade of the 
region; but an eagle or two, even a harmless painting, 
might remain. Thus in one of the great rooms of the 
governor's palace I viewed the life-sized paintings of the 
Hohenzollerns, — William, the former empress, and the 
former crown prince, — and it was M. Maringer him- 
self, then high commissioner, who drew back the hang- 
ings that covered them and laughingly exhibited them. 
No one had damaged the paintings; the French were 
satisfied to give them a generous ^^ booing." They were 
subjects for laughter now, and as to what became of the 
pictures, the French did n't care — '' ga ne fait rien." 
When, later on, we ate from the imperial plate and 
raised high the imperial goblets, it did not matter that 
they bore the Prussian eagle so long as we toasted the 
future of France. 

M. Maringer supervised the preliminary steps of the 
civil administration, and then gave the reins to M. Alex- 
andre Millerand, a man from whom France expected 
much. Millerand was one of the big men of France, 
but for the last few years he had been in eclipse. He 
was minister of war in the cabinet of Viviani, and served 
until October 29, 1915, when he was followed by Gen- 
eral Gallieni under the Briand ministry. M. Millerand 
is a socialist, but in the United States he would be re- 
garded as a progressive. At one time he collaborated 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 223 

with M. Clemenceau on the newspaper " La Justice." 
Differences in politics caused the two men to become 
alienated, but when M. Clemenceau was felled by an 
assassin's bullet, M. Millerand hurried to his bedside, 
and his visit did the president of the council a world 
of good, and led to his appointment as commissioner- 
general for Alsace and Lorraine, with the status of a 
minister in the cabinet of Erance. According to the 
statute under which he worked he took charge under 
the direct authority of the president of the council, to 
supervise the general administration of affairs in Al- 
sace and Lorraine and to make the seat of his govern- 
ment at Strasburg, with three commissioners under him, 
one at Strasburg for lower Alsace; one at Colmar for 
upper Alsace, and one at Metz for Lorraine. 

M. Millerand did not find the incorporation of Al- 
sace and Lorraine into France an easy task. Tre- 
mendous difficulties stood in the way. The Germans in 
the industries and in the railways sought to hamper the 
work of the French administration by underground 
methods, strikes, and sabotage. The Government of 
the republic soon organized the administration of Al- 
sace and Lorraine under the superior council, which 
had M. Millerand at its head and M. Louis Barthou as 
vice-president, and was composed of thirty-two mem- 
bers, of whom eleven were French, and twenty-one resi- 
dents of Alsace and Lorraine. Among the members 
were such well-known leaders as Lucien Poincare, vice- 
rector of the University of Paris; Albert Thomas; 
Daniel Blumenthal, the former mayor of Colmar, and 
the Abbe Wetterle. This council was to take up all 



224 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

questions of a general nature submitted to it by the 
commissioner, and later studied sucb matters as the 
disposition of German property in Alsace and Lorraine, 
making provision for the University of Strasburg, 
the new railway lines through the Vosges, the eight- 
hour day, and financial matters of various kinds. 

The French authorities made a survey of the popula- 
tion of the two provinces, and divided the people into 
four categories, giving them cards as follows: A. All 
inhabitants of French nationality with a French ances- 
try antedating 1840 ; B. All inhabitants who were the 
issue of a mixed marriage ; that is, an Alsatian or a Lor- 
rainer married to a German; C. All inhabitants who 
are the nationals of an allied or neutral country ; D. All 
inhabitants who are German immigrants. The result 
showed fifty-nine per cent, of the population belong- 
ing to the first class; ten per cent, to the second 
class; three per cent, to the third class, and twenty- 
eight per cent, to the fourth class. It was then esti- 
mated that the number of immigrants in Alsace and 
Lorraine reached 480,000, which was considerably less 
than had resided there before the war, as many of them 
had served in the German Army and had not returned, 
and others had departed since the armistice. 

France early endeavored to " right the wrong '' that 
had been done to the original French inhabitants of A\- 
sace and Lorraine when the treaty with Prussia in 1871 
deprived them of their motherland. The terms of that 
document had been simple, but drastic. I recall two 
clauses which Bismarck forced upon M. Thiers and M. 
Favre, and which were ratified by the national assembly 




Photograph by Signal Corps, U. S. A. 

THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES IN PARIS 

President Wilson is greeted with military honors by the Guard as he leaves the French Academy 

with Mrs. Wilson on December 19, 1918, after attending the reception to Academician Joffre. 

In the foreground is M. William Martin, chef du protocol 



THE FOURTEEN^ POINTS 225 

at Bordeaux. The first completed the annexation: 
" France renounces in favor of the German Empire the 
following rights: A fifth part of Lorraine, including 
Metz and Thionville, and Alsace less Belfort." Then 
the fifth clause, which read: " A delay will be granted 
to the inhabitants of the territories annexed to choose 
between the two nationalities.'^ In that simple phrase- 
ology lies a story of suffering, of untold grief, a tragedy 
of broken hearts. 

To restore French nationality to the Alsatians and 
the Lorrainers was more complicated. Plans were 
drawn up by which justice should be done those who had 
been forced to become Germans before the law. These 
plans were presented to the Peace Conference, and sub- 
sequently incorporated in the treaty of peace. The fol- 
lowing provisions were made and incorporated in the 
annex to the section of the treaty of peace that deals 
with the status of Alsace and Lorraine : reinstated into 
full French citizenship and nationality as dating from 
November 11, 1918, were all w^ho lost French national- 
ity by the application of the Franco-German treaty of 
May 10, 1871, and who since that time have not ac- 
quired any other nationality than German; the legiti- 
mate or natural descendants of these persons, except for 
those whose ancestors in the paternal line include a 
German who migrated to Alsace and Lorraine after 
July 15, 18Y0, the date of the German occupation, and 
all persons born in the provinces of unknown parents 
or whose nationality is unknown. Within one year 
after the ratification of the treaty of peace French na- 
tionality might be claimed by all persons whose ascend- 



226 THE ADVENTURES OF 

ants include a Frenchman or a Frenchwoman who lost 
his or her nationality by the German occupation; all 
foreigners not Germans who became citizens of Alsace 
and Lorraine before August 3, 1914; all Germans who 
live there now and lived there before July 15, 1870, or 
one of whose ascendants was living there at that time ; 
all Germans who served in the armies of the allied and 
associated powers during the late war and their descend- 
ants; all persons born in Alsace and Lorraine before 
May 10, 1871, of foreign parents, and the descendants 
of these persons, and the husband or wife of any per- 
son whose nationality has been restored as from No- 
vember 11, 1918. Germans are not to be given French 
nationality even if they are citizens of Alsace and Lor- 
raine, except by naturalization if they lived in these 
regions before August 3, 1914, and will have resided 
there continuously for three years after November 11, 
1918. 

In Alsace and Lorraine France finds itself confronted 
with the problem of a church and state united. The 
religious situation here is entirely different from that 
in the rest of France. The act by which church and 
state were separated in France and relations with the 
Vatican broken must eventually be applied to Alsace 
and Lorraine, but what the eifect will be is rather un- 
certain to-day. France has endeavored to assure the 
residents of these two lands that their ancient customs 
would not be affected. Thus the president of the Cham- 
ber of Deputies declared, " The victorious republic will 
be respectful of your traditions, your customs, your lib- 
erties and your beliefs." Speaking at Strasburg ou 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 227 

March 26, M. Millerand said, " I have the wish to re- 
spect scrupulously the beliefs and customs of the Alsa- 
tians." And he added: 

" For the moment the Concordat continues, but little 
by little Alsace and Lorraine will enter into all the 
forms of French legislation. The president of the Re- 
public, the president of the council, and Marshal Joflfre 
have pronounced the words guaranteeing your liberty, 
customs, and beliefs. This promise will be kept by 
me." 

One of the first comments on the new regime that I 
heard from an Alsatian, a member of an old French 
family, was: 

" We hope that France will find a way out to per- 
mit us to keep our present' religious schools and will 
not deprive the churches of the support they have re- 
ceived for so many years. It is rather an important 
question for us, and its solution will have much to do 
with the success of French Government here." 

One is inclined to believe that the Germans blundered 
much, but in Alsace and Lorraine they introduced many 
excellent measures. Dr. Gustavo Le Bon asserted re- 
cently that the Germans failed to understand the psy- 
chology of the Alsatian people, but that their economic 
systems had much in them that was beneficial. He 
added : 

It was only in religious matters, so important to Alsace, that 
the Germanic domination did not become oppressive: The hope 
of conquering the people by the influence of the clergy softened 
much their attitude toward the churchmen and they respected 
the Concordat with Rome. They knew from history that it was 
not possible to touch the religious beliefs of the Alsatians. Re- 



228 THE ADVENTUEES OF 

spectful of the treaties (those of Miinster and Osnabriick, West- 
phalia, 1648; and the terms of the capitulation of Strasburg in 
1680) even Louis XIV, in spite of the ardor of his beliefs, did 
not apply the revocation of the Edict of Nantes to Alsace. 

The Erench Government proceeded carefully in this 
situation. A commission was appointed to investigate 
the religious status of Alsace and Lorraine, but the 
appointment of Senator Debierre at its head brought ob- 
jections because he was regarded as a militant free 
thinker. Another flurry came when Monsignor Ceretti 
arrived in Paris to treat with the Government on re- 
ligious matters. Eor a moment it was thought that the 
monsignor might enter into relations with the Peace 
Conference on behalf of the Vatican, a course that was 
strongly objected to by Italy, which had caused the in- 
corporation of a clause in the secret treaty of 1915, 
by the terms of which the Allies agreed to exclude the 
Vatican from the peace negotiations. The monsignor 
came, however, to cooperate in the appointment of two 
Erench bishops to succeed the German bishops of Metz 
and Strasburg. A heated debate resulted in the Cham- 
ber of Deputies on this subject, and it was charged that 
the Government had violated the law separating the 
church and state in Erance. To this M. Pichon re- 
plied that the law was scrupulously observed in Erance, 
but that the Concordat was still in force in Alsace and 
Lorraine. The clergy had asked the appointment of 
French bishops by Erance and had shown its friendly 
attitude toward the Government. It is likely that the 
religious affairs of these returned provinces may for a 
time be regulated by a special law, but the eventual 



THE F0UETEE:N' POi:t^TS 229 

separation of churcli and state in Alsace and Lorraine 
is plainly forecast by the statements that have already 
been made in the French Chamber. 

'No title to national property was ever better than 
the title of France to Alsace and Lorraine, yet it is a 
sad commentary on the ways of the old secret diplom- 
acy that in order to assure the return of these lost 
provinces France had to agree to concessions demanded 
by another nation. This is betrayed in the secret agree- 
ments made between France and her allies and dis- 
closed in the publication of the alleged secret records 
of the Russian foreign office by the Bolsheviki in 1917. 
They disclose that the return of Alsace and Lorraine 
was a definite war aim on the part of France, but 
that before Russia would agree to England and France 
being permitted to regulate the western frontiers of 
Germany, Russia demanded the right to regulate the 
eastern frontiers. 

There is another subject associated with the return 
of Alsace and Lorraine to France, and that is the de- 
mand of France for the Saar basin. This, too, is con- 
tained in the secret documents published by the Rus- 
sians. A secret telegram, dated January 30, 1917, and 
purporting to have been sent by the Russian foreign 
office in Petrograd to the Russian ambassador in Paris 
contains a paragraph which reads: 

At an imperial audience M. Dumerg transmitted to the em- 
peror the desire of France to insure for herself at the termina- 
tion of the war the return of Alsace and Lorraine, and of a cer- 
tain position in the valley of the River Saar, and also to attain 
the political separation from Germany of her beyond the Rhine 
provinces and their organization on a different basis, so that in 



230 THE ADVEISTTUKES OE 

the future the River Rhine should be a secure strategic boundary 
against German invasion. Dumerg expressed the hope that the 
Imperial Government will not decline to formulate at once its as- 
sent to these propositions. 

The czar assented in principle, continues the tele- 
gram, but declared that Russia reserved the right to ask 
that she be allowed to determine the eastern boundaries 
of Germany in turn. In a second note, dated Feb- 
ruary, 1917, and addressed by the Russian minister of 
foreign affairs to the French ambassador to Petrograd, 
the claims of France to Alsace and Lorraine are again 
set forth, and the Saar basin also is included. It reads 
in part : 

In your note of this date your Excellency was good enough to 
communicate to the Imperial Government that the government of 
the republic intended to include among the terms of peace which 
will be offered to Germany the following demands and guaran- 
tees of territorial character: (1) Alsace and Lorraine to be re- 
turned to France; (2) The boundaries will be extended at least 
to the limits of the former principality of Lorraine, and will be 
fixed under the direction of the French Government. At the same 
time strategic demands must be taken into consideration so as to 
include within the French territory the whole of the industrial 
iron basin of Lorraine and the whole of the industrial basin of the 
valley of the Saar. 

These arrangements might well stand as proof of the 
iniquitous methods of the old secret diplomacy, by 
which diplomats traded peoples and lands off against 
each other's claims without any attempt to follow the 
wishes of the populations affected. France's title to 
Alsace and Lorraine was so clear and clean that it 
should not have been soiled by mentioning in the same 
breath French covetousness for the basin of the Saar. 
That title was questionable, and that claim was open 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 231 

to the suspicion that, the war having been won, Erance 
would endeavor in every manner to profit at the ex- 
pense of the competing German. 

The demand for the Saar basin was made by Erance 
almost as soon as the subject of Germany's western 
frontiers was opened by the Peace Conference. It was 
here not a question of French lands taken by Germany 
in 1871, but of lands that had been in German hands 
since the Congress at Vienna, and that had not been 
French for 103 years. Such title as France could mus- 
ter historically had to fall back upon the military cam- 
paigns of Louis XIV, who was active in this region 
and founded some of the towns, and upon the conquests 
of the Revolution and the Napoleonic armies ; at other 
times the country had been ruled by the Germanic 
Holy Roman Empire, the bishops of Metz, or the dukes 
of Lorraine, and the people had remained fairly pre- 
ponderatingly German, speaking their German dialect 
and being but little influenced by the French elements 
among them. Even if the historical claims of the 
French could be admitted, the changes that had been 
wrought here were such that the valley of the Saar could 
not be given to France without violating the right of 
nationalities that President Wilson had scrupulously 
guarded. 

One day when I was walking down the streets of 
Strasburg with Lucius F. Curtis of the Associated Press 
we were accosted by a pleasant young man who asked 
whether we were Americans. 

" I am asking for information," he continued. ^' I 
have been delegated by a number of students of the uni- 



232 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

versity to express to President Wilson our opinion that 
the Saar basin should remain German. We are not 
German sympathizers. We are Alsatians who have 
seen our country used as a foot-ball in international poli- 
tics, and we do not want to see the basis laid for new 
wars that will involve ourselves and all that we pos- 
sess. The Saar is German, and to take that is purely 
an imperialistic policy. We look upon President Wil- 
son as the guardian of the rights of all peoples to self- 
determination and we wish to send him our resolutions." 

There were other elements besides the students who 
objected to the claims of France to the Saar, and on 
the other side of the Rhine a storm of rage and pro- 
test arose when it became known that the conference 
was seriously debating giving the Saar to France. 
" [N'o German workman can accept the responsibility 
of agreeing to this,'^ cried out the Berlin workers. 
" Defend your brothers ! Raise a protest through the 
whole world ! It will be unjust for the capital of the 
Entente to demand the cession of the Saar basin, to 
give it a protectorate or provide other government for 
it." 

German protests might have been expected. Ger- 
mans were bound to object to nearly everything. Cer- 
tain American newspapers, however, also opposed this 
demand of France. Liberal newspapers of England 
also agreed that this was imperialism and economic 
greed. 

One man stood between the French aims and their 
accomplishment, Woodrow Wilson. 

'Now comes a strange chapter in the history of the 



THE rOUKTEElSr POIISTTS 233 

Peace Conference. Unofficially, France based its 
claims to the Saar basin wholly upon economic grounds. 
The Saar is the region of the great coal-fields that are 
important when considered with the iron mines of Lor- 
raine as an economic unit. To draw a boundary-line 
which shall leave the iron-mines on one side and the 
coal-mines on the other, and eventually place the bar- 
rier of a customs tariff between them is manifestly 
unfair; but regulation of the tariff and not a change 
in the boundary-line is the proper solution, if justice 
would be served. Erom the point of view of transpor- 
tation charges it was also an advantage for the nation 
which owned the minette iron-mines and the smelters 
to own the coal, but mere economic advantages could 
hardly be made an argument before the Peace Confer- 
ence. 

In the secret documents France places her claims on 
strategic grounds. France wishes to " assure herself 
of a certain position in the valley of the River Saar,'^ 
and again, ^^ At the same time strategic demands must 
be taken into consideration so as to include within 
French territory the whole of the industrial iron basin 
of Lorraine and the whole of the industrial basin of 
the valley of the Saar." 

President Wilson, it was asserted in Paris, could 
not see his way clear to agree to out-and-out annexation. 
A plan was then proposed to place the administration 
of the Saar basin under the League of Nations. M. 
Andre Tardieu was said to be the author of this plan. 
To this President Wilson evidently agreed. How the 
agreement was reached, or why, after both the Presi- 



234 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

dent ancl Colonel House were known to be opposed to 
the transfer of sovereignty, has not yet been made suf- 
ficiently clear to the public, and can be answered only 
by the President himself; but the fact remains that 
when the treaty of peace was made public, one whole 
section was devoted to the Saar basin, and the most 
careful reading failed to reveal that much more than 
a semblance of righteousness had been preserved by 
the provision that the League of Nations should be- 
come trustee, and that at the end of fifteen years the 
inhabitants of the Saar basin should be called upon to 
indicate the sovereignty under which they desire to be 
placed. 

This is in fact a small concession in view of the 
great gains which Erance has been enabled to make in 
this region. Eor it is set forth that ^^ As compensation 
for the destruction of the coal-mines in the north of 
France, and as part payment toward the total repara- 
tion due from Germany for the damage resulting from 
the war, Germany cedes to France in full and absolute 
possession, with exclusive rights of exploitation, unen- 
cumbered and free from all debts and charges of any 
kind, the coal-mines situated in the Saar basin." Pro- 
vision is also made that France shall receive the mining 
plants and all their equipment ; the basin is to be sub- 
ject to the French customs regime, and French money 
may be used. When the plesbiscite comes, voting will 
be by communes or districts, and the clause " If, for the 
whole or part of the territory, the League of Nations 
decides in favor of union with France," would seem to 
indicate that action may be taken to divide this terri- 



THE rOUETEEN POINTS 235 

tory in the event one section votes one way and another 
differently. Eurthermore, should the plebiscite favor 
Germany, Germany is to purchase the mines in their 
entirety at a price payable in gold and fixed by three 
experts, one French, one German, and one named by 
the Council of the League of Nations, and should the 
mines then go back to Germany, arrangements are to 
be made whereby French nationals can get all the coal 
they need, the contract terms to be fixed also by the 
council of the league. 

In this connection it must also be remembered that 
France has obtained the promise of deliveries of coal 
to make up for the losses sustained by the destruction of 
the coal regions of northern France, in the Nord and 
Pas de Calais departments, and that this is to be charged 
up against claims for reparation of damages sustained 
by France. For ten years Germany is to make up the 
difference between the actual output of these mines and 
the annual production before the war. 

It was not alone the more liberal-minded Americans 
who regretted that the members of the American mis- 
sion had found it necessary to assent to the arrange- 
ment affecting the Saar. In the Italian camp it caused 
an outburst of indignation, for the Italians immediately 
compared this action with that of the American Presi- 
dent toward Fiume. If, they argued, President Wil- 
son held out against awarding Fiume to Italy, for 
which both economic and nationality reasons could be 
adduced, how could he compromise his principles so 
far as to yield to the French demand for the Saar basin, 
which was certainly inhabited by Germans and devel- 



236 THE ADVENTURES OF 

oped by them, and a necessary part of their industrial 
system ? 

I could not help but think that France had com- 
mitted a diplomatic and political blunder of tremen- 
dous consequences, for not alone had France provided 
Germany with an irredenta, with which the German 
mind would busy itself in the years when Germany re- 
covered from the effects of the war, but France had 
linked the Saar basin with Alsace and Lorraine, and 
so had committed an injustice against the inhabitants 
of these fair lands, who now hoped and prayed that 
lasting peace might be theirs under French rule. I 
had spoken with these people and come to imderstand 
how ardently they craved that peace; I had seen in 
their faces the joy they felt because now the great wrong 
of forty-eight years ago had been righted. I had be- 
come convinced that any movement that jeopardized 
their right to live in peace and amity with their neigh- 
bors was nothing short of a crime. 

One day I was privileged to attend a simple memo- 
rial exercise in the cemetery of Colmar. We met be- 
fore an unusual monument. It had been carved out of 
the red sandstone of the Yosges and consisted of a rock 
standing about five feet high, and of another lying as 
on a tomb. The rock on the tomb was partly raised, 
and from it stretched a shoulder and an arm, with all 
the muscles tense — an arm that seemed to be groping 
with outstretched fingers for a sword which lay just 
a few inches out of reach of the fingers. It was an 
idea of tremendous strength and power, which drew 
the eye back to it again and again, and made me won- 



THE rOUETEE:^' POINTS 237 

der whether that powerful shoulder, on which the mus- 
cles stood out as if in the throes of a tremendous ef- 
fort, would succeed in bursting the confines of the nar- 
row tomb. 

This was the memorial to Vouilleminot, soldier of 
France, who died on September 14, 1870. The monu- 
ment had been raised in 1872 by the sculptor Bar- 
tholdi, who fashioned the Statue of Liberty, and who 
was a native of Colmar. In January, 1916, the Ger- 
man General Gaede had caused the monument to be 
removed, and what I had come to see now was a re- 
dedication. 

A group of French officers in their blue uniforms and 
red caps with gold braid came down the path and took 
a position near the monument. They came so unaf- 
fectedly and so simply that it was difficult to believe 
that they represented a nation whose military history 
is one of the most imposing in the world. Most unas- 
suming among them was General Gouraud, commander 
of the Fourth Army. He wore the traditional black 
coat, red trousers, and leather puttees, and except for the 
gold braid on his cap and the three stars on his sleeves, 
one of which hung empty at his side, there was noth- 
ing to indicate his rank. 

Here was a picture that nothing will ever efface from 
my memory: General Gouraud, standing beside the 
monument, speaking in a simple, direct manner, 
quietly, quickly, and firmly ; near him the men who had 
fought with him in this most terrible of all wars; 
round about him, and lining the paths of the ceme- 
tery, the plain people of Alsace, peasants and mer- 



238 THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 

chants, men and women, the good folk who had suf- 
fered and sacrificed. And behind the speaker stood a 
half circle of aged, gray-bearded men, with sunken 
cheeks and pale, thin lips — men who clustered about 
the flag of the republic and who proudly displayed 
badges that announced them to be veterans of the war 
of 1870-71. High overhead in a Lombardy poplar a 
bird was singing joyously, so loud and clear that his 
notes seemed to be echoed back from the distant foot- 
hills of the Vosges. The poplars were already green; 
the sky was an inspiring deep blue ; there was a prom- 
ise of new life on the shrubs and hedges. I looked at 
the soldiers, and their eyes, too, were clear and bright; 
at the old veterans, and something seemed to blaze 
with a new fire from beneath their wrinkled brows ; at 
the simple, sincere peasant folk round about me, and 
their eyes shone with the joy of the promise of a new 
day. These men of Colmar and Alsace, I thought, de- 
serve the best of France, and that is peace, security, 
tranquillity. My mind has reverted many times since 
to that picture. Will the compact that has been fash- 
ioned in Paris give them the peace that is rightly theirs ? 



CHAPTER XIII 

The President prepares a garden party at Principo, and the invited 
guests drag out the family skeleton. 

At first I thought that the wealthy American social- 
ist who lives in Switzerland and writes books eulogistic 
of Woodrow Wilson might know what was going to 
be done about Russia, so I went to him. But he shook 
his head. Then I had an idea that the Kansas editor 
who made the public cry for Emporia might know the 
secret, and I sought him out, with no better results. 
From time to time I would worry Secretary Lansing 
about it, and Colonel House, and even the amiable 
Henry White, and once I got a formidable glare out of 
M. Pichon when I casually remarked one day : 

" Monsieur, is the conference going to recognize the 
Bolshevist government ? " 

M. Pichon was startled. He frowned, glared, and 
exclaimed emphatically : 

'^Jamais! Jamais!'^ 

So there really was no way of getting a solution of 
the vexing Russian problem except to take my question 
to headquarters. And if it had not been for the 
gendarmes stationed at every corner and behind every 
shrub of the Place des Etats-Unis, and the two French 
Poilus who guarded the entrance to the Hotel Bischoffs- 
heim, I should most certainly have done so. There was 

239 



240 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

still the chance that I might meet the President un- 
awares in the elevator of the Hotel de Crillon, or at 
the cigar-stand, which also sold chocolate and chewing- 
gum, or in front of the hotel, where the motion-picture 
photographers lay in wait. I had my question pre- 
pared. Before he could get away I should ask him, 
point-blank, whether he favored Koltchak or Denikin 
or Lenine or Petloura or Tchaikovsky or all or none; 
and then, to make a good job of it, I should add the 
daily prayer of the Senate of the United States: 
" When are you going to get the boys out of Russia ? " 
Yet I should be doing an injustice to the man and to 
the executive if I gave the impression that President 
Wilson did not do everything in his power to bring 
about a conciliation among the warring factions of the 
former Russian Empire. More than that, he was the 
leader in movements intended solely to stop the devastat- 
ing civil wars waging within the confines of Russia, to 
restore this country to its place among the nations, and 
to give it the seat that it deserved to occupy at the peace 
table. Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua, Uruguay and 
Hedjaz — minor nations of no consequence in world af- 
fairs — sat with the great powers in council and helped 
adjudicate the affairs of the world; Russia, as one of 
her sons aptly said, having lost 9,500,000 men during 
the war, of which number at least 1,700,000 were dead, 
was not even given a voice in Paris. And this despite 
the fact that the integrity of Russia was made one of 
the conditions of peace by being included in the Eour- 
teen Points, and was agreed to by both the Allied pow- 
ers and the enemy. 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 241 

The sixth point is the longest of the fourteen. Its 
phraseology gives evidence of long and careful study. 
No v^onder, for the President of the United States v^as 
enunciating a policy and preaching a sermon all in one. 
He was outlining what was just and proper for the 
Allies to do ; he was denouncing the German action that 
found its climax in Brest-Litovsk ; he was addressing 
the great mass of the Russian people who had faith in 
the Western democracies, and the great numbers who 
had espoused the Bolshevist cause and laid down their 
arms in the face of the enemy. The sixth point is best 
grasped when it is broken up into its component parts, 
so that the proper emphasis is placed on each line of 
conduct. The President declares the only possible pro- 
gram to be : 

6. The evacuation of all Russian territory 

and such a settlement of all questions affecting Russia as will 
secure the best and freest cooperation of the other nations of the 
world 

in obtaining for her an unhampered and unembarrassed oppor- 
tunity for the independent determination of her own political 
development 

and national policy 

and assure her of a sincere welcome into the society of free 
nations 

under institutions of her own choosing; 

and, more than a welcome, assistance also of every kind that 
she may need and may herself desire. 

The treatment accorded Russia by her sister nations in the 
months to come will be the acid test of their good will, 

of their comprehension of her needs as distinguished from their 
own interests, 

and of their intelligent and unselfish sympathy. 

The Peace Conference had been formally opened on 
January 18. On the following Wednesdaj^, January 



242 THE ADVENTURES OF 

22, we were all consulting maps to learn the location 
of the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmora. For the 
Council of Five, composed of the President of the 
United States, the prime ministers or foreign minis- 
ters of the Allied powers, and the Japanese representa- 
tive, had approved the proposal of President Wilson 
that the Russian factions should be asked to put aside 
their civil strife for the time being and meet on the 
Princes' Islands with representatives of the great pow- 
ers on February 15, 1919, there to discuss plans for a 
settlement of their difficulties. The object of the pow- 
ers is most commendablj set forth in their announce- 
ment, which was sent by wireless to all parts of Russia. 
It declared that they were friends, and not enemies, of 
the Russian people; that they recognized the right of 
the Russian people to order their own affairs without 
external direction or pressure ; that they ^' recognize the 
revolution without reservation, and will in no way and 
in no circumstances aid or give countenance to any 
attempt at a counter-revolution ; that they do not wish 
to assist or favor any one of the organized groups in 
Russia as against the others," but merely to help Russia 
find a way out of her troubles. The plan they proposed 
was as follows : 

They invite every organized group that is now exercising or 
attempting to exercise political authority or military control any- 
vi'here in Siberia, or within the boundaries of European Russia as 
they stood before the war just concluded (except in Finland) to 
send representatives not exceeding three representatives for each 
group, to the Princes' Islands, Sea of Marmora, where they will 
be met by representatives of the associated powers, provided in 
the meantime there is a truce of arms amongst the parties invited, 
and that all armed forces anywhere sent or directed against any 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 243 

people or territory outside the boundaries of European Russia as 
they stood before the war, or against Finland, or against any 
people on territory whose autonomous action is in contemplation 
in the fourteen articles upon which the present negotiations are 
based, shall be meanwhile withdrawn, and aggressive military 
action cease. 

The statement assured the delegates that they were 
invited to confer in the frankest way, and that every fa- 
cility for the journey would be given by the powers. 

Thus virtually in the first few sessions of the Peace 
Conference President Wilson showed his hand. He had 
been concerned with the affairs of Eussia for a long 
time, but always with a view of permitting the Russians 
to settle their own quarrel. Undoubtedly he had busied 
his mind with a plan of conciliation among the many 
Russian factions long before the George Washington 
touched the coast of France. And long before the Peace 
Conference was called in formal session he had spoken 
of his views to the heads of the Allied governments, 
and had won them over to his idea. To accomplish 
this required no small measure of determination and 
political sagacity. For despite the fact that Great Brit- 
ain could only gain, and not lose, by the continued war- 
fare between Russian groups, Mr. Lloyd George came 
valiantly to the President's side, and this made it pos' 
sible for them to swing M. Clemenceau over to their 
view. That was the hardest part of the task. 

Not one of the Allied powers was willing to treat with 
Lenine and Trotzky, nor was the United States dis- 
posed to do so. To the Western democracies the soviet 
system of the Bolshevist party represented disintegra- 
tion and anarchv. The bare-faced manner in which the 



244 THE ADVENTURES OF 

Russian people had left the side of their Allies and 
made peace with Germany had cost the remaining pow- 
ers thousands of men and great sums of money. The 
harsh treatment of British and Erench nationals; the 
confiscation of personal property, irrespective of inter- 
national rights and amenities; the repudiation of the 
national debt of the czar's regime ; the nationalization of 
the principal industries and the threat of nationaliza- 
tion of all industries ; the seizure of private and public 
funds in the banks, and the deprivation of the political 
and civil rights of all persons who did not work by hand 
— these were acts that the Western powers found it 
hard to condone, no matter how sympathetic they might 
wish to feel with a revolution that broke the chains of 
bondage welded under the czar. That the President 
could win this victory in the first days of the confer- 
ence was no small achievement, even though the Erench 
acceded with tongue in cheek. 

The President followed up his first move by appoint- 
ing George D. Herron, a socialist and a writer who 
lived in Switzerland, and William Allen White, an 
American newspaper man who had been extremely ac- 
tive in Republican and Progressive political movements, 
to represent the United States at Principo, the largest 
of the Princes' Islands. Mr. Herron was a man with 
a wide European acquaintance, who could meet all 
classes of Russian socialists and understand their points 
of view. Mr. White was a plain Westerner with a large 
fund of sound common sense, something that the Rus- 
sian situation called for more than anything else. 

The United States Government already had made 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 245 

several attempts to create a more friendly feeling in 
Russia, but its efforts had not been successful, and more 
recently it bad lent itself to military adventures of 
rather doubtful character. The President had always 
wished to see Russia work out her own salvation, and to 
this end had interfered much less than did the Euro- 
pean governments. The President's attitude may be 
adduced from the message he sent to the Russian con- 
gress of Soviets in Moscow on March 12, 1918, in which 
he said : 

May I not take advantage of the meeting of the congress of 
the Soviets to express the sincere sympathy which the people of 
the United States feel for the Russian people at this moment when 
the German power has been thrust in to interrupt and turn back 
the whole struggle for freedom and substitute the wishes of Ger- 
many for the purpose of the people of Russia? 

Although the Government of the United States is unhappily not 
now in a position to render the direct and effective aid it would 
wish to render, I beg to assure the people of Russia, through the 
congress, that it will avail itself of every opportunity to secure for 
Russia once more complete sovereignty and independence in her 
own affairs and full restoration of her great r61e in the life of 
Europe and the modern world. 

The whole heart of the people of the United States is with the 
people of Russia in the attempt to free themselves forever from 
autocratic government and become the masters of their own life. 

The President puts the emphasis upon the people of 
Russia, not the Bolshevist group. How much the Gov- 
ernment abhorred the terroristic methods of that dicta- 
torship is proved by the appeal which the United States 
felt itself compelled to make in September of the same 
year. It called upon its representatives abroad to bring 
the state of terror prevailing in soviet Russia to the 
attention of the nations to which they were accredited, 
so that the righteous wrath of all civilized countries 



246 THE ADVENTUEES OF 

might be visited upon the Bolsheviki. The Govern- 
ment said that it was informed that 

the peaceable Russian citizens of Moscow, Petrograd, and other 
cities are suffering from an openly avowed campaign of marked 
terrorism and are subject to wholesale executions. Thousands of 
persons have been shot without even a form of trial; ill adminis- 
tered prisons are filled beyond capacity and every night scores of 
Russian citizens are recklessly put to death, and irresponsible 
hands are venting their brutal passions in the daily massacre of 
untold innocents. 

In view of the earriest desire of the people of the United States 
to befriend the Russian people and lend them all possible assist- 
ance in their struggle to reconstruct their nation upon principles 
of democracy and self-government, and acting therefore solely in 
the interest of the Russian people themselves, this government 
feels that it cannot be silent or refrain from expressing its horror 
at this state of terrorism. Furthermore it believes that in order 
to check the further increase of the indiscriminate slaughter of 
Russians, citizens of all civilized nations should register their 
abhorrence of such barbarism. 

The policy of the United States Government toward 
Eussia has not had a positive, determined character ; it 
might well be characterized as a waiting and hoping 
policy. It has frequently been criticized as inconsistent 
or lacking in direction, but in this it has been no differ- 
ent than Eussian affairs themselves. It is hardly pos- 
sible to characterize the American policy in a word, be- 
cause it has differed at various times. Our Govern- 
ment has pursued the following line of conduct: It 
has avoided decisive action whenever possible, appar- 
ently in the hope that the affairs of Eussia would adjust 
themselves without American interference; it has been 
sympathetic to any plan to get the various Eussian fac- 
tions together ; it has avoided having any relations with 
the soviet government, and in every instance in which 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 247 

it has had to address the Bolsheviki it has kept in the 
foreground the view that they were but part of the 
great Russian people; it has been unwilling to fight 
the Bolsheviki in the field, and yet has sent to Russia 
detachments of troops which have been variously occu- 
pied, in protecting stores, railway lines, and property; 
it has signified its intention of helping Admiral Kolt- 
chak with supplies of arms, and yet has withheld actual 
recognition of his faction as the de facto Russian gov- 
ernment, ostensibly placing the admiral on probation 
because of reports that he favored a monarchial regime. 
The original aim in sending troops to Russia — to help 
protect the Czecho-Slovak army against the German and 
Austrian prisoners in Russia and Siberia, and to pro- 
tect Allied stores from falling into German hands, was 
fulfilled when the armistice came, and the presence of 
those troops abroad came to be regarded in America as 
interference in the internal affairs of Russia and con- 
trary to the spirit of Point Six. 

The " call to Principo " was variously received by 
the Russian factions. Most of those outside the soviet 
government threw up their hands in holy horror at the 
idea of meeting with the Soviet's representatives, as if 
it were an abomination to confer with brother Russians. 
The principal opposition came from the Russian lead- 
ers in Paris. Three of the Russian governments — 
those at Archangel, Omsk, and Ekaterinodar — had 
united in a central Russian committee in Paris and 
occupied the former Russian embassy as their head- 
quarters. Professor Boris A. BakhmetiefF, ambassador 
to France, refused to entertain the idea of meeting the 



248 THE ADVENTURES OF 

Bolsheviki. Prince Georges Eugen Lvoff, a member of 
the progressive party and formerly in the cabinet of 
Kerensky, and now president of the combined commit- 
tee in Paris, declared that the invitation to Principo 
was ^' sl fatal blow not only for Russia, but for the 
world." He asserted that the Russians in Paris had 
not been consulted. ^^ Russian patriots cannot meet the 
men who betrayed Russia at Brest-Litovsk," he said. 
Nicholas Tschaikovsky, president of the Archangel gov- 
ernment, was on his way to Paris when the call went 
out, but his representatives in Archangel sent word that 
they would not attend the conference. Sergius Sa- 
zonofF, who had been minister of foreign affairs under 
the czar and represented the southern Russian or Eka- 
terinodar government at Paris, also refused to counte- 
nance the idea. Boris Savinkoff, minister of war under 
Kerensky, went calmly ahead to organize a federation 
of anti-Bolshevist governments to encircle the Bol- 
sheviki. 

The first acceptance of the invitation to Principo came 
from the Bolsheviki. The " Isvestia " had published 
a comment on January 28, saying that the invitation 
bore neither address nor signature. On February 5 
the Paris wireless station picked up a radio message 
in French signed Tchitcherin, dated Moscow, February 
4, and addressed to the powers. It was remarkable for 
the concessions that it made voluntarily. The soviet 
government declared its readiness to enter into negotia- 
tions; to assume the Russian foreign debt; to grant 
mining, forestry, and other concessions to foreign cap- 
ital, and to limit, in so far as was in its power, its 




I'ress Illustrating Service, Inc. 



IGNACE PADEREWSKI 



Famous today not because he is an artist, but prime minister of Poland, the only nation growing 
out of old Russia whose independence all Russian factions appear willing to concede 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 249 

propaganda. The whole reply was a carefully worded 
statement of the Bolshevist case, and Tchitcherin took 
pains to outline the Bolshevist military situation, to 
declare reports of disorder lies, and to speak of the re- 
forms introduced by the Bolshevist government. The 
Esthonians and the Letts accepted on February 13, and 
the Ukraine declared its willingness to attend the con- 
ference, but thought the date too soon. On February 
19, at the Hotel de Crillon, Secretary Lansing met M. 
Tschaikovsky ; M. Tethoff, who had been food commis- 
sioner under Kerensky ; and Charles R. Crane, and on 
the same day was announced the formal refusal of the 
three united Russian governments to treat with the Bol- 
sheviki. The decision caused a great deal of joy in 
French circles, and there was a suspicion at American 
headquarters that the Russians had covertly received 
a great deal of support in circles which outwardly pre- 
tended to favor the Principo project. The French Gov- 
ernment had favored military intervention in Russia, 
but President Wilson had set his face sternly against 
this in December, and although the French asked the 
peace commissioners to hear M. Xoulens and M. Sca- 
venius speak in favor of intervention later on, their tes- 
timony on Bolshevist misrule had failed to convince 
the American President that American troops should be 
sent. 

" Idealogy, ignorance, and party politics — such are 
the evil guests of the Quai d'Orsay," was the phrase in 
which the '^ Echo de Paris " attempted to hit off Presi- 
dent Wilson, Mr. Lloyd George, and M. Clemenceau 
when the proposal was first made. 



250 THE ADVENTURES OF 

The Principo plan soon became a sort of standing 
joke. Eor a long time nothing was done in Paris to 
come to a solution of the Russian question, although it 
was evident that attempts had been made to bring the 
anti-Bolshevist groups around to the American view. 
The flowers bloomed on Principo, the skies were blue 
above it, the olive-groves were green with new foliage. 
Mr. White spoke eloquently at our conferences on the 
beauty of the rendezvous, but it appeared unlikely that 
our Kansas editor and our socialist professor would 
ever go there to counsel the Russians to live as brothers. 
An idea of the number of Russian factions repre- 
sented at Principo had the proposal succeeded may be 
gained from this tentative list of provisional govern- 
ments eligible to attend : the Moscow council of Soviets, 
calling itself the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet re- 
public; the Koltchak government of Omsk ; the southern 
government at Ekaterinodar, led by Denikin ; the direc- 
tory of Ufa, led by Avksentyev's group of social revolu- 
tionaries, which had clashed with Koltchak and was 
fighting both him and the Bolsheviki ; the Archangel 
government; the Tiflis government; the Ukraine; Es- 
thonia; Livonia; Lithuania; Georgia; the League for 
the Regeneration of Russia ; and the central committee 
of the social democratic party. 

Day after day the American commissioners were 
bombarded with the question, ^' What about Principo ? " 
and day after day they responded rather sadly : " We 
have heard nothing more.'' The anti-Bolshevist Rus- 
sian elements in Paris stood firm, and the French press 
could sneer at the American President with impunity. 



THE FOURTEElSr POINTS 251 

Whether planned or not, Erance had won a diplomatic 
victory. 

Yet the idea that the Allied troops were out of place 
in Russia continued to spread among the European na- 
tions. The German menace had died away, and there 
were only the Czecho-Slovaks to help and the accumu- 
lated stores to protect. The protests in the United 
States against American soldiers being used longer in 
Russia spread to France and Great Britain. The 
French- were confronted with an agitation against fur- 
ther military adventures. It spread to the soldiers 
themselves and to the sailors at Odessa. The Confed- 
eration Generale du Travail declared openly against 
war on an Allied country. 

About 8000 American troops had been sent to Siberia 
to cooperate with the Czecho-Slovaks, and about 5000 
to Archangel. Eleven nationalities were represented 
in the troops at Archangel. At this time the protests 
in the United States Senate against the presence of 
troops in Russia became more acute, and on February 
15 a resolution introduced by Senator elohnson of Cali- 
fornia calling for the withdrawal of the American 
troops was defeated only when the Vice-President voted 
" No " to break the tie. On February 17 Secretary of 
War Baker informed the senate that the President had 
arrived at an agreement with the British by the terms 
of which the American troops at Archangel were to be 
withdrawn as soon as spring came. 

In March M. Pichon furnished the Chamber of 
Deputies with official figures regarding the number of 
Allied and American troops in Russia. lie showed 



252 THE ADVENTURES OF 

that there were 34,765 men on the Archangel front and 
334,700 men on the Serbian front. At Archangel the 
British had 13,100 troops; the Russians were next with 
11,770, and the United States third with 4920. The 
Erench had only 2345. On the Siberian front the Rus- 
sians had 210,000, the Japanese had 27,000, the 
Czecho-Slovaks had 55,000, the Poles had 12,000, the 
Erench had 7600, and the United States had 7500. 

In March the report was circulated in Paris that an 
American, perhaps two Americans, had penetrated 
soviet Russia and had actually walked about on the 
streets of Petrograd for a day or two or even for three 
days. I still recall the apparently polite curiosity with 
which Secretary Lansing greeted this news. 

'' Bullitt ? " he asked. " No, I have heard nothing 
from Mr. Bullitt.'' 

The story was told that comment in London had it 
that two Americans had gone into soviet Russia. It 
was the subject, I think, of an interpellation in the 
House of Commons. At any rate, it was belittled by 
the Allied press. Secretary Lansing appeared to be 
interested, but he could give no definite information to 
the newspaper men. Was the trip of the two Ameri- 
cans an authoritative visit or just a streak of luck? 
Well, now, that was hard to tell. 

Nevertheless, William C. Bullitt and Lincoln Stef- 
fens went into Russia to discuss plans with the soviet 
officials for a basis of negotiation. They were helped 
across the River Sestra by American officials, and were 
met and directed to the officials of the soviet by author- 
ized representatives. Both Mr. Bullitt and Mr. Steffens 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 253 

were men remarkably well qualified for their task. Mr. 
Bullitt was a friend of Colonel House, and had advo- 
cated that the United States get better reports on the 
Russian situation than were furnished by British and 
French sources, and attempt seriously to get the various 
Russian factions together on the basis of mutual under- 
standing. He was interested in labor and labor organ- 
izations and was reported to favor building up the peace 
of the world by creating a solidarity among the labor- 
ing masses which would prevent war in the future. 
He went into Russia and put his shoulder to the wheel. 
With Mr. Steffens he tried to get an honest comprehen- 
sion of the political program involved in soviet rule, 
and an idea of what possible basis all Russian factions 
could get together on, so that their civil strife might 
stop and Russia might find herself again. The basis 
for an understanding was arrived at with Tchitcherin 
and Lenine in Moscow, and terms were actually drawn 
up. There was to be an armistice between all the Rus- 
sian governments, affecting also the Allied and Amer- 
ican troops on Russian soil, to be followed by a con- 
ference of the Russian groups. The text of the agree- 
ment, which has come to us from the soviet government, 
sets forth that " all existing de facto governments set 
up on the territory of the former Russian empire and 
Finland to remain in full control of the territories they 
occupy at the moment the armistice becomes effective, 
except in so far as the conference may agree upon the 
territories. The soviet government and all other gov- 
ernments set up on the territory of the former Russian 
empire, as well as the Allied and associated governments 



254 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

operating against the soviet government, including Fin- 
land, Poland, Galicia, Koumania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, 
and Afghanistan, agree not to attempt to upset by force 
the existing de facto governments and other governments 
signatory to this agreement." Furthermore the eco- 
nomic blockade was to be raised, and trade relations 
with soviet Eussia and the Allied and associated gov- 
ernments restored, " under conditions insuring supplies 
on equal terms for all classes of Russian people." This 
was a blow at the class rule of the soviet, which had 
contended that only workers should be fed. Arrange- 
ments were to be made for the use of ports and railways 
throughout Eussia by the soviet for the purpose of mov- 
ing food and passengers. The exchange of official rep- 
resentatives was provided for both between the soviet 
and the great powers, and the soviet and the other Eus- 
sian states. 

The various Eussian governments were to give am- 
nesty to all political prisoners, and the same action was 
to take place with reference to Eussians who might be 
held by the powers, or citizens of the powers held in 
Eussia. This was to include those who had carried 
arms. A humane provision read : ^' War prisoners of 
non-Eussian powers detained in Eussia and likewise all 
nationals of these powers now in Eussia to be given full 
facilities for repatriation. Eussian war prisoners in 
foreign countries and likewise all Eussian nationals, 
including officers and soldiers abroad serving in foreign 
armies, to be given full facilities for repatriation." 
All troops of the powers to be withdrawn when 
the armistice was signed, and no more help was to be 



THE FOUETEE]^ POINTS 255 

given to anti-soviet governments. The soviet and other 
governments were to begin reducing 'their armies at 
once to a peace footing, the conference to determine the 
most effective method of doing this. And finally the 
following clause concerned the payment of the Russian 
debt: 

The allied and associated governments, taking cognizance of 
the statement of the soviet government of Russia in its note of 
February 4, regarding its foreign debts, propose as an integral 
part of this agreement that the soviet and other governments set 
up on territory of the former Russian empire and Finland shall 
recognize their responsibility for the financial obligation of the 
former Russian empire to the foreign state parties to this agree- 
ment and to the nationals of such state. Detailed arrangements 
for the payment of these debts to be agreed upon at the confer- 
ence. Russian gold seized by the Czecho-Slovaks in Kazan or 
taken from Germany by the Allies to be regarded as a partial pay- 
ment of the republics of Russia. 

Mr, Bullitt and Mr. Steffens returned, and made 
their report direct to Secretary Lansing. An attempt 
was made to learn the result of their investigations, but 
all in vain. The foreign press continued its attacks 
on the Americans, but the Americans remained silent. 
Pressed to tell the content of the report from Russia, 
Secretary Lansing said one day : 

" There is nothing to make public. It is to be pre- 
sumed that the American Government, like other gov- 
ernments, has sources of information and gets reports. 
The other governments do not publish theirs. Why 
should we ? " 

As for the Bullitt mission, nothing came of it. 
" Izvestia,'^ the official soviet organ in Moscow, said 
that the soviet government had stated its willingness 



256 THE ADVENTURES OE 

to accept the terms drawn up bj Mr. Bullitt, but that 
tbej were never officially offered. 

Here, again, publicity might have saved the day. 
At least it would have made clear to the world the dis- 
interested attitude of the Government of the United 
States in face of the questionable attitude of the Euro- 
pean and Japanese governments toward Eussia. 

In March and April the French press became espe- 
cially vindictive in its criticism of the American 
manoeuvers to bring about peace in Russia. In this 
it reflected the view of the Clemenceau government, 
which was opposed to any movement looking toward 
recognition of the Bolsheviki. As M. Pichon said one 
day, France had 18,000,000,000 francs (nominally 
$3,600,000,000) invested in Russia. France was 
against Bolshevism in Russia, he said, and for a strong 
united Russian state on a federal basis, with the exclu- 
sion of Poland and Finland, a democratic federal basis 
built on the consent of the governed. 

Some of the French critics took the view that the 
United States was negotiating with the soviet in order 
to gain immense trade concessions. M. Gauvain wrote 
on April 19, accusing the United States of negotiating 
immense concessions in Russia. The " Echo de Paris " 
on April 18 said : " For the last few weeks a swarm of 
agents has descended from America on our former ally. 
They treat directly with Lenine, pocketing grants of 
concessions." This is an example of the sort of mis- 
representation to which the Americans were constantly 
subjected in Paris. 

It is true that the investments of France in Russia 



THE TOUKTEEN POINTS 257 

were large, and that the non-payment of interest and 
the danger of loss of part of them hit every French 
householder. On the other hand, the British invest- 
ments were estimated at no less than $3,375,000,000. 

An attempt to get the Bolsheviki to cease military 
operations by offering them food was the next manoeuver 
of the Peace Conference. In this the United States 
again took a prominent place, for the reason that it was 
the only nation with resources of food at its disposal. 
An attempt was made through Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, the 
Norwegian explorer, to treat with the soviet govern- 
ment. Again the negotiations were veiled in obscurity. 
At the Hotel de Crillon no official information was 
forthcoming. As usual the news leaked out from other 
sources that Dr. Nansen was to make an effort to estab- 
lish communication with the soviet, so that food could 
be sent to relieve the starving thousands in Russian 
cities, especially the weak women and the poor, hungry 
little children. The weak women and the poor, hungry 
little children have frequently figured in the scheme 
of things at the Peace Conference, but no nation has 
yet approached Eussia without putting military and 
political conditions with its offer of food, or has pro- 
vided for the starving human beings when these condi- 
tions were not met. 

We have the statement of Tchitcherin that Dr. Nan- 
sen communicated with him on May 4 and forwarded 
a letter from Mr. Lloyd George, President Wilson, and 
M. Clemenceau, dated April 17. Tchitcherin said that 
the Allies had refused to submit this offer by wireless, 
and that it had finally come to him through the German 



258 THE ADVENTURES OF 

Government at the request of the Norwegian legation in 
Berlin. The proud sovereign powers whose representa- 
tives sat in judgTQent over the world in Paris were 
forced to accept favors at the hands of the German 
diplomatic agents ! Tchitcherin replied that the soviet 
was ready to negotiate with the Allies, but regretted the 
political conditions attached to the offer of food — the 
cessation of all military operations by the soviet. The 
Bolsheviki were unwilling to stop fighting, especially 
when they faced armies of the Allies. Dr. Nansen 
might name the time and place for a conference; the 
soviet would meet him. 

Again nothing happened. Tchitcherin complained 
that his answer was treated as a negative one and that 
the American wireless announced that the soviet had 
refused the offer of the Peace Conference. He accused 
the Americans of misrepresentation and bad faith. 

Publicity would have saved the day here. The 
Americans in Paris frequently complained of the dis- 
torted Russian news furnished by French and British 
news agencies, but the Nansen affair is an instance of 
how our own mission connived in the bungling methods 
of the old diplomacy. " Keep it dark " was evidently 
the motto of the European chanceries in all matters 
affecting Russia. The Americans accepted the Euro- 
pean view of things when they were not only predisposed 
to let in the light, but actually pledged to do so by the 
first of the Fourteen Points. American writers and ob- 
servers had to get many of their " tips " on Russian news 
from the wireless messages of the soviet government, 
from soviet newspapers, or from German and Scandi- 



THE rOUKTEE:^' POINTS 259 

navian newspapers, when they should have had them 
direct from the President of the United States and his 
official representatives in Paris. What America needed 
to know was exactly what terms had been offered and by 
whom, what discussions had taken place and to what 
end, and who had obstructed the way toward concilia- 
tion and peace, and why. That stand could have been 
taken by the American mission and carried out success- 
fully, even if the other nations as punishment withdrew 
their support of the covenant of the League of Nations. 
It is a great question whether an out and out American 
policy of this kind would not have been better in the 
long run than acquiescence to the prejudices of the Euro- 
pean powers. 

It is the method employed in these attempts to reach 
the Kussian people that I am criticizing, not the pro- 
posals themselves. That they were made will always 
reflect credit on the American mission. Even the Bol- 
sheviki, who turned their wrath on the United States 
when all schemes failed, now and then recognized the 
disinterestedness of the American republic. Thus 
Tchitcherin, who, by the way, is one of the best little 
note-writers of his day, in the course of an article on 
foreign relations made the following comment on the 
powers : 

In the camp of those fighting against us there are two tend- 
encies: one of these is opposed to conciliation and the other is 
conciliatory. Our problem is to render the first tendency incapa- 
ble of further opposition toward the other. The United States of 
America, of all the allied powers, was more friendly to soviet 
Russia. At the time when the other powers were beginning to 
intervene President Wilson was keeping aloof. Even when he 
Joined in he gave in his appeal to the Russian people, as the reason 



260 THE ADVEInTTURES OF 

for intervention, a narrower purpose than that of England, point- 
ing out the necessity of the aid which must be rendered to the 
Czecho-Slovaks, and the need for guarding the military stores. 
America more than any other country is interested in preserving 
one undivided Russian economic organization, and is by no means 
interested in weakening Russia. 

America did not agree with the plans of the allied imperialists to 
divide Russia into spheres of influence and with the Anglo-French 
plan of exploiting Russia by means of an English or French cen- 
tral bank. America continued to uphold the point of view of non- 
intervention in Russian matters. At the present moment America 
is the first country from which peace messages reach us. The 
declarations of some of the more influential senators belonging to 
both leading parties demanded an end to intervention, to which 
the chairman of the committee on foreign relations, Senator Hitch- 
cock, could not give a straightforward answer. Among the strong- 
est allied powers America would be most inclined to enter into an 
agreement with Russia. 

The next chapter in the remarkable story of the Peace 
Conference and Russia deals with the attempt to gain 
recognition for the Omsk government, at the head of 
which was Admiral Koltchak. 

' The American Government had taken the lead in vir- 
tually all the dealings with the soviet government. It 
was now the turn of the Russians in Paris to press for 
recognition of Admiral Koltchak, who was regarded as 
the strongest of all the anti-Bolshevist leaders in Russia. 
The Koltchak armies made considerable progress up to 
June. In replying to questions raised in the House of 
Commons, Winston Churchill, British secretary of state 
for war, said that Great Britain had called the Omsk 
government into existence, but that its contribution to 
the admiral's operations was limited to the supply of 
munitions sent to his armies. He said that the value of 
the munitions sent to Admiral Koltchak and General 



THE FOUETEEN POINTS 261 

Denikin reached about 20,000,000 pounds, or $960,- 
000,000. 

General Denikin is head of the so-called volunteer 
army, which is cooperating with the Kuban government 
at Ekaterinodar, of which General Dragomirov is presi- 
dent and M. Sazonov minister of foreign affairs. Gen- 
eral Denikin was an intimate friend of General Korni- 
lov and escaped with the latter to the Don region when 
Kerensky indicted them. Denikin began his fight 
against the soviet with an army of three hundred officers, 
who served as privates. His army is now estimated at a 
strength of 300,000 bayonets and sabers in regular mili- 
tary units. Denikin favors a constituent assembly and 
recognizes Koltchak as his superior. 

A strong effort to present a united front was made by 
the representatives of a large number of the anti-soviet 
Russian governments in Paris. In May they called a 
Eussian political conference at which they discussed 
means for getting Allied help. They declared them- 
selves against the restoration of the czarist regime and 
said that they wanted the peasant class to keep the land. 
They wanted the Eussian people to vote on their own 
form of government by means of a constituent assembly, 
elected under legitimate conditions. The various de 
facto governments would hand their power over to the 
national assembly when the Bolshevists had been driven 
out. This conference included Prince Lvoff as presi- 
dent ; M. Tchaikovsky, M. Sazonov ; M. Bakhmetieff, M. 
Giers, Maklakov, and Stakhovich, Eussian ambassadors 
at Washington, Eome, Paris, and Madrid; M. Gulke- 



262 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

vich, minister at Stockholm, and M. Efremov, minister 
at Bern ; M. Nabokov, charge d'affaires at London ; M. 
Dolgopolov, member of the Kuban government; M. 
Ivanov and M. Titov, members of the Union for the 
Regeneration of Russia ; M. Struve, member of the na- 
tional center; General Cherbachev, representing the 
Russian armies, and General Golovin, his chief of staff, 
and a number of other leaders. 

The negotiations between the Peace Conference and 
Admiral Koltchak were carried on at Omsk through the 
Erench charge d'affaires, M. Martel, and in Paris 
through M. Sazonov. The Peace Conference made 
eight conditions which were to become the basis for 
supporting Admiral Koltchak against the other claim- 
ants in Russia: (1) the summoning of a constituent 
assembly, chosen as the supreme legislature for Russia 
through a free, secret, and democratic franchise; (2) 
free elections to all local bodies, such as municipalities 
and zemstvos; (3) a pledge that the czaristic regime 
will not be reestablished, that civil and religious liberty 
will prevail, and that the former land system will not be 
restored; (4) recognition of the independence of Fin- 
land and Poland, disputes over their frontiers to be set- 
tled by the League of Nations; (5) autonomy to be ex- 
tended to Esthonia, Livonia, Lithuania, the Caucasian, 
and Transcaucasian governments, the League of Na- 
tions to be consulted in the event their relations to the 
Russian Government are not clearly agreed upon; (6) 
recognition of the right of the Peace Conference to 
determine the future of the Rumanian part of Bessara- 
bia; (7) Russia to join the League of Nations and to 



THE FOUETEEN^ POINTS 263 

cooperate in the limitation of armaments and military 
organizations; (8) recognition of Russia's debt to for- 
eign countries, made before and during the war. The 
conference further said : 

Some of the allied and associated governments are now being 
pressed to withdraw their troops and to incur no further expense 
in Russia on the ground that continued intervention shows no 
prospect of producing an early settlement. They are prepared, 
however, to continue their assistance on the lines laid down below 
provided they are satisfied that it will really help the Russian 
people to liberty, self-government and peace, and provided also 
that they receive from Admiral Koltchak and his associates defi- 
nite guarantees that their policy has the same objects in view as 
that of the allied and associated powers. 

Admiral Koltchak's reply was made public June 14. 
He declared that he would fix the date for elections to 
the constituent assembly when the Bolsheviki were defi- 
nitely crushed. A commission was now at work pre- 
paring the preliminaries on a basis of universal suffrage. 
He considered himself responsible to the constituent as- 
sembly and would hand over all his powers to it. He 
objected to the reestablishment of the assembly of 1917, 
which had been chosen under Bolshevist violence. He 
was ready to discuss disarmament and all kindred inter- 
national questions, but he believed the final decision 
should be made by the constituent assembly. He rec- 
ognized the independence of Poland, leaving discussion 
of frontiers to the constituent assembly. As to Finland 
he said, '^ We are disposed at once to recognize the de 
facto government of Finland, but the final solution of 
the Finnish questions must belong to the constituent 
assembly." He agreed to a solution of the questions 
involving Esthonia, Livonia, and the other states, " see- 



264 THE ADVE:N^TUKES OF 

ing that the government is assuring, as from the pres- 
ent time, the autonomy of the various nationalities." 
He wished to take up each case separately, however, and 
agreed that his government was ready to have recourse 
to the '' good offices of the League of Nations." The 
same conditions applied to Bessarabia. He repeated the 
declaration of November 27, 1918, by which his govern- 
ment accepted the burden of the Russian national debt. 
As the most careful scrutiny was given to the statement 
of his opposition to the reestablishment of a reactionary 
regime I give it here in full : 

As regards the question of internal politics, which can only 
interest the powers so far as they reflect the political tendencies 
of the Russian government, I make a point of repeating that there 
cannot be a return to the regime which existed in Russia before 
February, 1917. The provisional solution which my Government 
has adopted in regard to the agrarian question aims at satisfying 
the interests of the great mass of the population, and is inspired 
by the conviction that Russia can only be flourishing and strong 
when the millions of Russian peasants receive all guarantees for 
the possession of the land. Similarly as regards the regime to be 
applied to the liberated territories, the government, far from 
placing obstacles in the way of the free election of local assem- 
blies, municipalities and zemstvos, regards the activities of these 
bodies and also the development of the principle of self-govern- 
ment as the necessary conditions for the reconstruction of the 
country, and is already actually giving them its support and help 
by all the means at its disposal. 

In making public this reply of Admiral Koltchak 
the Council of Five of the Peace Conference said : 

The allied and associated powers wish to acknowledge receipt 
of Admiral Koltchak's reply to their note of May 26. They wel- 
come the tone of that reply, which seems to them to be in substan- 
tial agreement with the propositions which they had made and to 
contain satisfactory assurances for the freedom, self-government 
and peace of the Russian people and their neighbors. They are. 



THE rOUKTEEN POINTS 265 

therefore, willing to extend to Admiral Koltchak and his associ- 
ates the support set forth in their original letter. 

This statement was signed by D. Lloyd George, 
Woodrow Wilson, G. Clemenceau, V. E. Orlando, and 
1^. Makino. 

Was this a recognition of Admiral Koltchak as the 
head of the legitimate de facto Russian government ? 
The Allied newspapers for the most part said, ^' Yes." 
The " Temps " pointed out that the decision was a sol- 
emn covenant and a declaration of policy — " a covenant 
to oppose Bolshevist tyranny, which serves German in- 
terests, and a policy of reconstruction and national unity 
for Russia." But the " Times " of London recognized 
that this was not actually recognition. " The Allies 
have practically recognized the national government of 
Russia presided over by Admiral Koltchak," said the 
" Times." " It would have been wiser, as well as more 
manly, had they made the recognition formally and 
frankly. Why not call the step by its true name ? " 
The ^^ Times " went on to say that " the excessive timid- 
ity with which the recognition is made does not destroy 
its importance." 

Important influences were at work in the United 
States and elsewhere to prevent out-and-out recognition 
of Koltchak, and it is certain that the proposed recogni- 
tion was materially weakened in effect and virtually 
made negligible by the opposition to Koltchak among 
other Russian groups, which pictured him as a reaction- 
ary, surrounded by members of the old czaristic regime 
and by landholders who wanted their great estates back. 
The socialists of France in large measure also opposed 



266 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

Koltchak. Avksentiev, who had been head of the Omsk 
directory, which was overthrown by Admiral Koltchak 
by force in what is commonly called the Omsk coup 
d'etat, also led a formidable opposition. The ciiargcs 
against Koltchak varied. His troops were accused of 
atrocities similar to those charged against the Bolshe- 
viki. It is known that charges of this character were 
brought to the attention of the x^mericans. The most 
severe blow to the prestige of Koltchak came from a 
group of Russian social revohitionaries and was the 
sequel to the Omsk coup d'etat. An appeal to the de- 
mocracy of the world was issued by the following mem- 
bers of the first all-Russian constituent assembly: A. 
Kerensky, N. Avksentiev, V. Zenzinov, A. Argunov, E. 
Eogovsky, O. Minor, B. Sokolov, M. Slonim; by M. 
Ivanov, president, and M. Delevsky, secretary of the 
Paris section of the Union for the Regeneration of Rus- 
sia, and by M. Peskin, president, and M. Rosenfeld, 
secretary, for the Russian Republican League in Paris. 
The appeal asked the non-recognition of any government 
in Russia of the nature of a personal or class dictator- 
ship, particularly a military one, which does not bow to 
the people's will nor establish a democratic govern- 
ment. ]^o foreign intervention is to be countenanced. 
The powers should help with materials and food stuffs 
only those governments in Russia that agree to convoke 
an all-Russian constituent assembly '^ immediately after 
the cessation of civil war on the basis of universal, 
direct, equal and secret suffrage." Eood is to be dis- 
tributed by a neutral organization and not to be used for 



THE rOUETEEN POINTS 267 

a political purpose. A mission is to be sent to Kussia 
forming a united representation of the free nations, and 
including representatives of organized labor and democ- 
racy, to explain the democratic aims of the powers and 
to assure the people of Russia that the help is for their 
own good. The appeal brought considerable opposition 
from elements favorable to Koltchak, who criticized the 
participation of Kerensky in this movement. ^^ La 
Cause Commune " of Paris wrote on May 28 that this 
was an attempt to serve Koltchak as Kornilov was served 
by Kerensky. " Beware of them ! " said this paper. 
M. Gauvain, writing in the ^' Journal des Debats," said : 
" It contains a germ of anarchy as fatal as that of 
Kerensky. It proposes a mission to Russia. This 
means a mission of world Soviets. It would simply 
take disturbance into Russia instead of calm, and bring 
back into Europe all the Leninist microbes. It would 
be a triumph for Lenine. One recognizes the hand of 
Kerensky." '^ Humanite," on the other hand, ex- 
pressed its sympathy with the appeal. In the course of 
the next few weeks military reverses seriously affected 
the hope the Allies had placed in Koltchak and with the 
arrival in Paris of Frank Polk, Under-Secretary of 
State, to take charge of the ximerican mission with the 
departure of President Wilson and Secretary Lansing, 
negotiations with Koltchak became little more than a 
discussion. In the meantime the Americans were still 
interested in their effort to have Dr. Nansen take charge 
of food distribution in Russia and were said to be work- 
ing energetically with their colleagues in Paris to have 



268 THE ADVENTUEES OF 

the food blockade lifted. Because the soviet govern- 
ment would not agree to call a constituent assembly or 
cease fighting, matters remained at a deadlock. 

It is pertinent in this connection to direct attention 
to the statement regarding Russia made by Lieutenant- 
General J. C. Smuts in London in his farewell letter to 
the English people upon his departure for South Africa. 
The letter was in itself a remarkable resume of condi- 
tions in Europe and the action of the Peace Conference, 
and deserves wide reading. That part relating to Eus- 
sia follows : 

Russia is an even more obscure and difficult problem than Ger- 
many, and one on which no dogmatic opinion would be justified. 
But from all the information which has come into my possession 
I am seriously doubtful about the sort of policy which we seem 
to be pursuing there. Russia can only be saved internally by the 
Russians themselves, working on Russian methods and ideas. She 
Is a case of national pathology, of a people with a sick soul, and 
only Russian ideas could work a cure. Our military forces, our 
lavish contributions of tanks and other war material, may tempo- 
rarily bolster up the one side, but the real magnitude of the prob- 
lem is quite beyond such expedients. 

Leave Russia alone, remove the blockade, adopt a friendly neu- 
trality and Gallio-like impartiality to all fractions. It may well 
be that the only ultimate hope for Russia is a sobered, purified 
soviet system, and that may be far better than the czarism to 
which our present policy seems inevitably tending. If we have 
to appear on the Russian scene at all, let it be as impartial 
benevolent friends and helpers, and not as military and political 
partisans. Be patient with sick Russia, give her time and sym- 
pathy, and await the results of her convalescence." 

One might say that General Smuts has put in a nut- 
shell the best thought of the President and the keenest 
minds in the American mission. That America has not 
been able wholly to make her views prevail is patent to 
the Eussians and to the world. The generations of the 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 269 

future will place the blame, and, it is to be hoped, will 
absolve the peoples of the western European democra- 
cies from complicity in the imperialistic crimes of their 
leaders. 



CHAPTER XIV 

Walks in the Paris of the conference, and how they led to haunts 
of another day. 

A STRANGER in Paiis, walking along the Boulevard 
St.-Germain, would never notice it, this wide-arched 
doorway in an apartment-building that apparently leads 
to nothing but a dingy court. The boulevard is wide 
and inviting, a street redolent of modernity; its shops 
are of the eighties and nineties and later times, and the 
fagade of the university surely has nothing in common 
with the days of old. But Paris is full of surprises, 
which you come upon in the most commonplace of mod- 
ern streets, and there is a surprise awaiting you if, 
forgetting the boulevard that builders of a later age drew 
like a straight line through the very heart of the Paris 
of the Revolution, you turn aside from its broad pave- 
ments and seek the little dingy paths, the lanes, and by- 
ways, like the passage that lies behind this arched door- 
way. 

For a moment I was in darkness, and then again in 
light, and it seemed as if I had left Paris behind me, 
for I stood in a narrow street that was not likely to 
admit more than one cart and horse at a time. The 
high building lay behind me and effectively shut out 
modern Paris, with its noise and activity ; before me and 
on each hand were little one-and-a-half and two-storied 
houses, with quaint dormer-windows stuck here and 

m 



THE rOUKTEEN POINTS 271 

there in the roofs, and old potted chimneys — like the 
pictures of the city one encountered in old prints along 
the Eue Bonaparte and on the quays. The windows 
were quaint, too, long and narrow, or small, with little 
square panes, and here and there the glass was missing, 
and a yellow bit of paper kept out the elements. I 
picked my way carefully over the cobbled walk. I 
was in Kevolutionary Paris. 

A Y. M. C. A. man in khaki, with the red triangle on 
his cap, came out of an adjoining passage. He nodded. 

" So you have found it, too, have you ? " he asked. 
"Isn't it wonderful, this little bit of old Paris! 
Haussmann must have forgotten about it; he tore out 
everything else. They are still drawing rent out of 
these ancient barracks. Come with me." 

I followed him down the passage and through a wide 
gate under a house that seemed four stories high. A 
tiny court lay beyond. Artists lived there now, and 
milliners and all sorts of laboring folk. There were 
sketches and pastels in the windows, and a little sign 
called for girls to make artificial flowers. 

" Don't trip over that iron,' he warned, pointing to a 
piece that stood about a foot out from the wall. 
" That 's the old step the horsemen used to mount by in 
the days when the archbishops of Rouen had their palace 
in this building. See that window with the iron grill ? 
That 's where they put Charlotte Corday the day she 
killed Marat. Quite a long time ago it was, and I 
don't suppose the old place has changed a bit since she 
stood with disheveled hair and looked out through those 
iron bars." 



272 THE ADVENTURES OF 

The blows of a smith's hammer sounded close by, and 
we turned the corner of the passage to a forge, in- 
stalled in one of the buildings on the narrow lane. He 
had been there a long time, the smith, and he was busy 
now, as he had been for years, repairing locks and 
mending old, decrepit bicycles. There was that within 
his little shop which had witnessed scenes in the history 
of old Paris even long before the days of Robespierre. 
It was a great round tower, with walls fully two feet 
thick, against which he had built his forge, and in which 
he stored his iron and steel. 

^^ It 's an old tower," he said. "Go inside if you 
wish. It 's very old, but how old nobody knows, no- 
body knows." 

Nobody, except such able students of old Paris as 
Georges Cain, the regretted conservateur of the Museum 
Carnavalet, whose remarkable research has opened the 
heart of old Paris to all the world, for the old stone 
tower around which this house of revolutionary days had 
been built was erected by Philippe-Auguste as part of 
the walls of another Paris — a Paris not yet become the 
capital of a united France. 

We walked up the lane to the boulevard again, and 
as we surveyed the buildings on each hand the " Y " 
man spoke up: 

" Here 's N,o. 9. Closed up now. But you can see 
that until it closed it was still a circulating library. 
Yes, still full of books. Well, in that shop Durel had 
his library in 1790, and here one day came a deputy 
named Guillotine with the model of a strange instrument 
invented by an Italian physician named Albert. It 




Photograph by Signal Corps, U. S. A. 



Villa Murat 




m i 



rhotograph by yigoal Corps, U. iS. A. 



Hotel Bischoffsheim 



THE TWO WHITE HOUSES OF PARIS 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 273 

was here that they first tried it on a sheep — in this very 
building. They called it a ^ philanthropic machine for 
decapitation.' Think of that for a story ! And at No. 
8 the widow Brissot had her collection of books on juris- 
prudence belonging to the Girondists who had been guil- 
lotined. And there was a printery close by; should be 
here. Let 's look around." 

Erom somewhere came the clanking of a printing- 
press. It was close at hand. We followed the sound. 
There was a door close to the court that led to the 
boulevard, and a sign-board with the word ^^ Impri- 
merie.'' We pushed open the door and stepped in- 
side. 

It was still a printing-shop. In an adjoining room 
was running the press that we had heard, and here an- 
other small press stood ready to receive the forms. Sev- 
eral men wearing long white aprons were bending over 
proof, and here and there lay a large lithographing 
stone. 

" Is this the printery ? " we asked uselessly. 

" Yes," said one of the workmen. 

" And was this not the place where the Marshal Brune 
had his printery in the days of the Revolution ? " 

^' Ah, yes, it is here." 

'^ The very same ? " 

^' The very same." 

" And here was printed in 1793 ^ L'ami du Peuple ' 
of Marat ? " 

^' Yes, Messieurs/'' 

^' And you are printing to-day ! A journal, per- 
haps?" 



274 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

" Xo, Messieurs; documents for the Congress of the 
Peace." 

And thus the world of yesterday is just around the 
corner of a modern street in Paris. v 

I stopped at a book-shop in the Boulevard St.-Martin 
to-day and asked the dealer for livres historiques. 
The man shrugged his shoulders, and with a gesture 
directed me to one side of his establishment, where they 
were piled up to the ceiling row on row, and at times 
two rows to a shelf; a great wealth of historical litera- 
ture, of books on armies, of discussions of military cam- 
paigns, of old diaries and memoirs, the backstair gossip 
of the kingly courts, the amours, the intrigues, the con- 
fessions. Trade has been slow during the war, I 
thought, and these books probably have stood here un- 
disturbed since tlie last tourist fled in the first days of 
August, 1914. But I was mistaken about that. Some 
of the books, it is true, had broken backs and besmudged 
covers, but many were plainly new; they shone forth 
resplendent in their bright coats of canary yellow, green, 
and blue paper, and the dates 1917 and 1918 on their 
backs proved that amid the tremendous effort of fighting 
for life French publishers had gone quietly forward 
adding to their lihrairies. 

For a long time I had been partial to the story of the 
Congress of Vienna, and the Peace Conference in Paris 
had only whetted my appetite. What joy, then, to find 
here two big tomes that were a monument to the indus- 
try of Commandant M. H. Weil ; a transcription of the 
records of the secret police during the Congress of Vi- 



THE FOUETEEN POINTS 275 

enna, taken from the original documents in the archives 
of the imperial ministrv of the interior at Vienna, and 
published now under the title, ^^ Les Dessous du Congres 
de Vienne." 

Hastily I turned the pages. I almost knew what I 
would find in these documents of the Polizei Ilofstelle, 
And mentally, as I read the lines, I compared the situa- 
tion then with the situation now at the Peace Confer- 
ence, Were men shadowing the delegates in Paris to- 
day? Were the secret police of the French Govern- 
ment, among the most efficient in the world, reporting 
daily, as these men had done, and perhaps sending their 
reports to M. Clemenceau, as these reports went to the 
Emperor Joseph and Prince von Mettemich ? Who 
shall say ? Perhaps it was not for nothing that the 
British delegation came to Paris with its own locks and 
keys and its own force of locksmiths. 

If so, what jolly times for the historian of the future I 
For instance, suppose the secret police of to-day pro- 
duced the counterparts of reports such as this : 

Credits opened by the sovereigns at the principal banking houses 
of Vienna — At the house of Fries: Emperor of Russia, 100,000 
rubles; King of Prussia, no limit; dukes of Weimar, Oldenburg, 
Mecklenburg, each 5999 florins; Prince de Wrede, 100,000 florins. 

Or dealt with trivialities, like this: 
Prince Troubetzkov, having a sore foot, remained home. 

Or the elements of intrigue, like this : 

The covered staircase of the apartments of Alexander leads not 
to one of the courts, but to three chambers on the first story 
giving upon the grand staircase and occupied by one of the aides- 
de-camp of the sovereign. It is probable that the Poles enter the 
house of the emperor by this passage when he wishes to see them. 



276 THE ADVENTURES OF 

Or the stuff of which romance is made, like this : 

Alexander, invited to the home of the Princess Bagration for 
Saturday, went there last evening after the " at home " and sup- 
per to make a call. The porter rang four times to announce hira, 
and the princess, who had closed her door to guests the whole day, 
went in negligee to the staircase. Upon hearing the voice of Alex- 
ander, she excused herself in confusion and begged him to enter 
the room, where Alexander perceived a man's hat. A great and 
amusing explanation followed. " It is that of the decorator 
Moreau," finally said the princess; "he is the man who is deco- 
rating the house for to-morrow's festival." The czar remained 
two and a half hours at the house of the princess. Iloni soit qui 
mal y pen^se! 

What opportunities the journalists missed in those 
good old days ! 

The man who first told me about it called it a con- 
gress, and said that it would be attended by men from 
all quarters of the earth. The Grand Hotel was to pro- 
vide the setting, he said, but all the world would be the 
audience, because what this congress would discuss 
would affect the fortunes of all the world. I thought 
it proper to give an indulgent ear, for my informant 
was from Chicago, and one is always partial, to some 
extent at least, to fellow-sufferers. But he was also in- 
sistent. He said that although I might consider the 
Peace Conference the greatest deliberative body in the 
world, I had not made the fullest use of my opportuni- 
ties did I ignore his congress. 

With something like an air of condescension I agreed 
to go. It was to be held in the Grand Hotel, and that 
might provide a story. Anything might happen in the 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 277 

Grand Hotel, seeing that the Paris wing of the Irish 
republic and Samuel Gompers lived there. 

The room where the congress was to be held was one 
of those overladen Paris salons sometimes used for 
French birthday celebrations, and gastronomical orgies 
like unto those of Rome. But there was a long green 
table in the room now, and here and there were blotting- 
pads, pens and ink, in preparation for a session. The 
room was already half full of men. Most of them were 
in the uniform of the American Army; some wore the 
French horizon blue, and here and there I spied the 
Croix de Guerre. Others were attired in well-fitting 
Prince Alberts. My guide introduced me to an Ameri- 
can major of infantry. There was also a captain of a 
machine-gun company, and several men who carried the 
badge of the Y. M. C. A. The men were discussing the 
valor of various units of the American Army and their 
conduct under fire. I could see their eyes sparkle with 
enthusiasm as they developed their subject. 

'" Why are you meeting here in Paris ? " I asked. 

'^ It seemed the easiest manner of placing our claims 
before the Peace Conference," said the major of infan- 
try. " Besides, a good many of us are here now on 
military business, and so could not call a congress in the 
States." 

" Your aim — " I continued. 

" Justice," he said — " justice and humanity ; to build 
up and strengthen the forces of civilization. A code of 
protection for men, much like the code of protection for 
labor." 



278 THE ADVENTURES OF 

'' Tell me all about it," I asked, and between the 
major and the captain and a popular lecturer this is the 
story they told me : 

'' In general, we are going to ask the Peace Confer- 
ence not to permit any one nation to wipe out the tradi- 
tions and customs of a people by refusing to let the 
original inhabitants learn their own language in the 
schools. We are going to ask also that the land be not 
exploited or farmed out to strangers, absentee landlords, 
and the like, but that provision be made that the original 
settlers, many of whom may not yet have developed ca- 
pacity for self-government, be given the opportunity 
to own the land when they can profitably develop it. 
We want the conference to limit mandatory and colo- 
nizing nations so that they will not exhaust the natural 
wealth of the country and then turn out the peoples who 
have the right to live there. We want schools provided 
at public expense to teach populations the language they 
wish to be taught. We want the conference to decree 
that modern medicine and hygiene must always be intro- 
duced, that proper hospitals must be provided, that self- 
government must be extended where the people are ready 
for it, that no particular religion be imposed upon them, 
that they be given equality and justice before the courts 
and in industrial enterprises, according to their ability 
and desert." 

" How does it strike you ? " said the major. 

" Sounds reasonable," I replied. " Do you think 
there is still need for drawing up such safeguards ? " 

^' Yes," said the captain, slowly, " I still think men 
are not fair to their less-educated brethren. I believe 



THE FOUETEEN POINTS 279 

simple justice is not always meted out. I think the 
Peace Conference should formally recognize that." 

'' All over the world ? " I asked. 

'' Yes," he replied. '' Of course," he added, " I do 
not mean that the conference should necessarily inter- 
fere with the sovereign rights of a state. I am thinking 
primarily of colonies. It is true, for instance, that in 
the United States justice is not always meted out. 
There are many instances of oppression. But that is a 
matter between American citizens. We — you and I 
— will adjust that. We have our legal bill of rights; 
the Constitution grants the same privileges to every citi- 
zen. But there are great populations which don't have 
that. They are absolutely dependent upon the ruling 
power." 

^' How do you explain man's inhumanity to man ? " 
I asked. 

" Prejudice," he replied abruptly. 

" We should be beyond that," I said. 

He laughed at that. 

" You would not believe me," he replied, '' if I gave 
you some concrete examples that have come to my no- 
tice. For instance, I know the case of a man who is as 
good as any other man before the law. He wore the 
American Y. M. C. A. uniform. He found excellent 
quarters at a first-class French hotel. He moved to an 
American hotel in one of the back areas where troops 
pass. The man in charge whispered to him: 

" ^ Sorry, old man, but I can't put you up. These 
men here object to you.' " 

" Why ? " I asked. 



280 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

" Prejudice," replied the army man. " I can give 
you more examples. I was once in the compartment of 
a railway train, in conversation with a French Red 
Cross nurse. An American officer entered. I saluted 
him, and he saluted me. But he left the compartment. 
A little later the nurse was called to the corridor. She 
returned soon after. ^ I have been warned,' she said, 
* not to speak with you. The other officer will not share 
the compartment so long as you are here.' " 

I remained silent. 

The men about me continued to speak. A long series 
of anecdotes, some more wounding, others less, followed. 
I listened, comprehending. 

" We have drawn up a resolution based upon our con- 
ception of human rights and justice," said another of 
the men, " and this we hope the conference will consider 
and perhaps adopt. But even if it does not adopt it, 
the world will hear of our bill of rights. Please come 
this afternoon at four o'clock, so that I may give you a 
copy of it." 

I thanked him and rose to leave. ^' Truth, justice, 
human rights " — these words were whirling through my 
brain. From times immemorial men had used them; 
always their aim was the same. We had reached the 
twentieth century now, and men were still formulating 
the old, old claims. 

The major offered his hand. I shook it in farewell. 
It was black — coal black. Outside in the corridor I 
looked at my hand. Nothing had happened to it. 

Somehow official communiques all read alike — con- 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 281 

densed statements of fact, often so laconic that one does 
not suspect their significance. There is the one of 
March 10. It reads like the routine meeting of a board 
of aldermen, but it deserves to become historic. Here 
it is: 

Monday. 

The Supreme War Council met this afternoon at the Quai 
d'Orsay from three to half past five o'clock. 

The Council decided that the great powers should designate rep- 
resentatives of the powers with special interests on the economic 
and financial commissions. 

The discussion then turned on the report of the military experts, 
presented by Marshal Foch, relative to the definitive military 
status of Germany. 

The terms of this report were fixed and its conclusions adopted. 

The next meeting will take place to-morrow at three o'clock. 

This communique marks the end of the military 
power of Germany. The council has fixed the defini- 
tive military status of Germany. What is it ? 

This is the second attempt in history to limit the 
war-making capabilities of the German people. The 
first attempt was made by ^N'apoleon with the Prussian 
army. He failed. The members of the Supreme War 
Council of our day are determined that they shall not 
fail. 

Under the agreement reached by the council the Ger- 
man army will be reduced to 100,000 men ; the German 
general staff will be abolished ; only from 4000 to 4500 
oflScers will be permitted throughout the German nation ; 
conscription will be abolished, and Germany's new army 
raised by volunteer enlistment under a twelve-year en- 
listment plan ; the great German fortifications along the 
Rhine will be leveled, the output of the ammunition 
factories will be limited to serve the needs of the armv. 



282 THE ADVEISTTUEES OF 

and, finally, Germany will not be allowed to keep any 
implements of war now in her possession not needed for 
the army. 

In limiting the German army to 100,000 men the 
council took this figure arbitrarily. When the subject 
was first discussed at Spa the Americans proposed that 
the future Germany army be composed of 400,000 men, 
on the basis of twenty-five infantry and five cavalry 
divisions. The Americans were by no means decided 
that this figure should stand ; they merely suggested it as 
a basis for discussion, and it was speedily scaled down. 
In the discussion the council considered 140,000 for a 
long time as a proper figure. 

The council hovered for some time over the subject 
of conscription or voluntary enlistment. ^Neighboring 
populations would be affected by the situation in Ger- 
many. If Germany received an army by voluntary en- 
listment, it was likely that the socialists in France would 
agitate for a similar situation in France. A voluntary 
army meant higher pay to the soldier and a large outlay 
without the return in man power procured by conscrip- 
tion. Great Britain favored a voluntary army, because 
the British oppose a conscript army for Great Britain. 
France will keep a conscript army because it has col- 
onies that need a standing army. Italy held to the 
French point of view. In the war of 1870 the Germans 
had a conscript army, the French a volunteer army. A 
conscript army is regarded as better trained. 

In declaring that enlistments must be for twelve years 
the council has attempted to foil any manoeuver on the 
part of Germany to repeat the scheme used by Prussia 



THE FOUKTEEIT POINTS 283 

against Napoleon — of training a small army which 
practically changed its personnel every six months, so 
that in a few years Prussia had a redoubtable military 
force at her disposal. The council proposes a method 
of supervision over the German army to see that this 
scheme is carried out. Such supervision will be difficult 
after Germany has been admitted to the League of 
Nations as a sovereign state, but necessary. 

The American point of view is that effective limita- 
tions cannot be placed so well on the training of an 
army as on the output of munitions. Soldiers may be 
trained, but unless equipped, they are useless. The 
council will make definite provision for the inspection of 
German workshops, so that there can be no covert prepa- 
ration for war; an attempt also will be made to make 
impossible the preliminary training in athletic societies 
and g^Tiinasiums which has always been a feature of 
German military instruction. The council will also 
provide regulations against the manufacture of tanks 
and asphyxiating gases ; the number of aeroplanes will 
be limited and restricted to commercial and touring pur- 
poses. The navy may not have over 15,000 sailors, six 
armored cruisers, five cruisers of the line, twelve de- 
stroyers of 800 tons, and twenty-six torpedo boats of 300 
tons. 

The fangs are drawn. A great military power has 
passed from the face of the earth. 



CHAPTEE XV 

" Nach Paris ! " said the Germans, and how they finally got 
there. Also showing that the German sometimes not only gets 
what he wants, but also what is coming to him. 

At last the Germans! Since the armistice on 'No- 
vember 11, 1919, the Western World had waited for 
the coming of the Germans, in humble submission, to 
Versailles. But the days dragged on. Weeks passed 
without a sign of them. The weeks lengthened into 
months, and yet no Germans. Repeatedly we asked the 
question of Pichon, of Tardieu, of Balfour, of Colonel 
House, of General Bliss, of Venizelos, of General Smuts, 
of the doughboy who ran the elevator in the Hotel de 
Crillon, and the auburn-haired young woman who sold 
chocolates and cigarettes. ^^ When, oh when, will the 
Germans come to Versailles ? '' And even these well- 
informed authorities could give no answer. 

The Peace Conference had opened in January, and 
the world thought that the Germans should have arrived 
by February at the very latest, should have signed the 
treaty of peace and departed home. The Germans had 
even more radical ideas on the same subject, for they 
contended that they should have been called in the very 
first day to sit with the great powers at the conference 
table and help decide each and every question. In this 
the Germans erred grievously, as also did numerous 
other powers, some of whom had helped win the war. 

284 



THE rOUKTEEN POINTS 285 

Crises came and went ; Allies became disgruntled, and 
talked of withdrawing from the conference; even the 
great powers intimated that they had grievances against 
the Council of Four — or Eive. Only that astute body 
actually knew how much work had to be accomplished 
before the Germans could be called in, and even its 
members could not tell when the treaty would be ready 
for presentation. They, of all the delegates, commis- 
sioners, minor plenipotentiaries, ministers, and counsel- 
ors of all sorts and ranks refused to become disturbed by 
the general clamor. On all sides critics shouted and 
bellowed. The military leaders, having from the first 
advocated unconditional surrender and a clear road to 
Berlin, — and who knows but that might have been the 
better part ? — declared the diplomats were about to lose 
the victory that the armies had won. Industrial leaders 
and bankers, who had eked out a mere livelihood in four 
lean years, announced that the conference was forcing 
the world into Bolshevism by its procrastination. Men 
who were on the scene every day, and who could not have 
digested in years all the problems disposed of by the 
council in a few months, asserted that the peace commis- 
sioners accomplished nothing, and that events remained 
at a standstill. 

Meantime Germany was plainly delighted. Once the 
Germans had made up their minds that they were not to 
be invited to Paris until the treaty of peace was ready 
to be signed, they began to watch the bickerings of the 
Allies closely, and to make political capital out of them. 
Their first point of attack was the vulnerability of the 
Fourteen Points. Under the Fourteen Points, as inter- 



286 THE ADVENTURES OF 

preted by various groups in Paris, each claimant nation 
would get everything it wanted. And so, when one na- 
tion presented its claims, and these claims were not 
accepted by the council, the Germans in glee pointed to 
the ^' betrayal " of the Fourteen Points. They reveled 
in the crisis that brought President Wilson into the open 
against Italy's claims to Fiume; they rejoiced when the 
council refused to decree the annexation of Dutch Lim- 
burg to Belgium; they assured Greece of their sympa- 
thy when the Americans objected to the cession of 
Thrace ; they saw hope of Anglo-French friction in the 
claims of Hedjaz and Syria; they fanned the flames of 
discontent in Silesia and Teschen, and told the Ruma- 
nians that the great powders would never grant them all 
their claims in Bessarabia, the Banat, and Transylvania. 
Germany might well hope to profit by the discontent 
and dissatisfaction among the Allies. 

I remembering hearing a critic and well-informed 
student of diplomatic affairs declare once : 

My criticism against this conference is its procrastination. It 
is agitating every question under the sun. Consider the able man- 
ner in which a similar task was handled at Vienna. The congress 
met for a definite purpose; it did that work, completed its task, 
and dissolved. But this conference — 

That was probably the first time that the dancing 
congress of 1815, which opened in 1814 and did not 
complete some of its labors until 1821, was ever called 
expeditious and direct in its labors. As for the Peace 
Conference that met in Paris, it was well described by 
Mr. Lloyd George when he faced the House of Commons 
to answer the criticism of the Northcliffe press : 



THE FOUETEEIST POINTS 287 

We had to shorten our labors and work crowded hours, long and 
late, because, whilst we were trying to build, we saw in many lands 
the foundations of society crumbling into dust, and we had to make 
haste. I venture to say that no body of men have worked harder 
or in better harmony. I am doubtful whether any body of men 
with a difficult task have worked under greater difficulties — stones 
crackling on the roof and crashing through the windows, and some- 
times wild men screaming through the keyholes. 

One day a strange report passed tlirongli Paris — the 
Germans had arrived ! Across the Seine, in the former 
embassy of imperial Germany they were housed, said 
the report. That great house, standing there cold and 
solemn with shuttered windows, seemed to have entered 
upon a long sleep. Its great gate was locked, and the 
ivy creepers climbed over its hinges. Meditating it was, 
no doubt, of days of grandeur, when glasses clinked 
within and men drank to " der Tag " here in the heart 
of Paris. What other secrets did it hold ? There was 
a coclier, it was said, who had driven a mysterious 
stranger to within a few doors of the place, a man who 
was well muffled up in a high coat, who had given a 
generous tip, and then sneaked up the Quai d'Orsay to 
the old embassy. And there was a concierge, and who 
will assert that a concierge does not know a host of 
secrets ? 

Bound up with this report was one which gained 
currency in the neighborhood of the Hotel Edouard 
VII, to the effect that Dr. Lammarsch, the eminent Aus- 
trian privy counselor, who was said to have advised 
Emperor Charles of Austria to make peace, if peace 
could be made, long before the great disaster came, had 
been brought to Paris by the French as part of the 
French j^lan to build a confederation of the Danube. 



288 THE ADVENTURES OE 

Here was another mystery tliat involved a hostile diplo- 
mat in the heart of Paris. Italy would not hear of a 
Danube confederation, which to her meant the resusci- 
tation of the ancient empire of the Hapsburgs. " We 
are looking for Lammarsch," confided one of the mem- 
bers of the Italian delegation to me, significantly. " If 
you find him, tell us at once." 

In the midst of the crisis over Eiume, when the situa- 
tion was so strained that it looked as if Italy might 
withdraw from the Peace Conference at any moment, 
word went forth from the council that the Germans had 
been officially notified to send their plenipotentiaries to 
Versailles. 

Germany, still calling itself a Reich, a word that had 
been translated heretofore as " empire," was now nomi- 
nally a republic by the terms of a provisional constitu- 
tion adopted by the national assembly at Weimar on 
Eebruary 10. Ostensibly a Socialist government was 
in the saddle, with Eriedrich Ebert as president and 
Philipp Scheidemann as chancellor, but actually it still 
rested upon the sanction of those who had been the back- 
bone of the military and industrial might of Germany. 
Who would Germany send ? Erzberger ? He had been 
a useful man in the armistice negotiations, but was 
hardly suited as a plenipotentiary now, even should the 
Government empower him to go ; for there stood against 
him his famous plan of annexation, promoted in 1915 
and made public recently at Augsburg by the Independ- 
ent Socialist Landauer. In this Erzberger outlined the 
minimum demands of Germany: sovereignty over Bel- 



II 



THE rOUKTEEIsr POINTS 289 

gium and the channel ports of France to Boulogne and 
the Norman isles ; ownership of the Lorraine mines and 
Belfort; the annexation of the Belgian and French 
Congo, English Nigeria, Dahomey, and French West 
Africa, not to mention other details about indemnities 
and payment of the cost of the war. Bemstorff ? It 
was not likely that the former ambassador to the United 
States would be made welcome, even though he had pre- 
pared Germany's diplomatic case for the Peace Confer- 
ence. Germany had to turn to men who had not been 
so intimately associated with diplomacy during the war. 
For chairman of her commission Germany turned to 
Brockdorff-Rantzau. Count von Brockdorff-Rantzau 
was minister of foreign affairs of the new Germany. 
The negotiation of the treaty of peace was properly his 
work. Like Bernstorff, he came from the northern 
duchies, both his father and his mother having belonged 
to the old nobility of Holstein. His career had been an 
interesting one. Bom in 1869, he was the son of an 
assessor in the Prussian administration of the duchies, 
who also bore the title of chamberlain to the grand duke 
of Oldenburg. A member of his mother's family was 
grand mistress of the court of the empress of William II. 
Under her patronage he joined the first regiment of the 
Eoyal Foot Guards and later entered the diplomatic 
service. When war broke out he was made minister to 
Denmark. His service to the German cause affected 
both diplomatic and economic fields. He won friends in 
the Socialist ranks and was regarded as in favor of a 
peace of conciliation. Both the Majority Socialists 



290 THE ADVENTURES OF 

under Scheidemann and the Independents under Haase 
considered him eligible for the ministry of foreign af- 
fairs after the revolution. 

The powers at Paris judged his foreign policy and 
his aims by an address made before the national assem- 
bly at Weimar on Eebruary 14. In substance he said 
that Germany did not account herself wholly responsible 
for the war ; that she would hold strictly to the principles 
of President Wilson. According to the interpretation 
of Brockdorff-Rantzau, Germany would not need to pay 
one cent of indemnity nor give up any of her territory 
to the victors. If Germany was to rebuild the territory 
she had devastated, she wished to do so with free labor. 
The war was not won by the adversaries of Germany by 
military means alone, but largely because of economic 
pressure. The peace, therefore, must not only be a po- 
litical peace, but an economic peace as well. The lib- 
erty of commerce, he continued, presupposed the liberty 
of the seas. And the liberty of the Stas was for Ger- 
many the essential point in the Fourteen Points. Ger- 
many could not entertain the idea of having her colonies 
put under an international regime unless all colonies 
were placed under a regime of this kind, and Germany 
then received the mandate over what had been her own 
colonies. The expulsion of Germans from Alsace and 
Lorraine by the French he described as an imperialist 
plan that should be fought diplomatically by Germany. 
Prussian Poland he declared a part of the German Em- 
pire, but he favored adopting regulations for Polish use 
of the Vistula River, and railroads and port concessions 
in order to ^ive Poland an easy access to the Baltic Sea. 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 291 

lie declared that he would not wish to annex Switzer- 
land, Holland, or Scandinavia, but that he felt it proper 
for Germany to annex its German brothers of Austria, 
for more than ever Germany would wish to have a uni- 
fied empire. Finally he declared himself in favor of 
regulating labor and social questions upon an interna- 
tional basis, and agreed to the collaboration of Germany 
in a league of nations, " organized in the spirit of Presi- 
dent Wilson." 

Such were the ideas of the leader of the German dele- 
gation. The Government further named Dr. Lands- 
berg, minister of justice ; Johann Giesberts, minister of 
posts, (postmaster-general); Herr Leinert; Professor 
Walther Schiicking; and Dr. Carl Melchior. 

Of these men Dr. Melchior was widely known as an 
expert on finance who had been in close touch with men 
of the Allied countries before the war. The views of 
Dr. Schiicking on the League of Nations had been gen- 
erally circulated, and deserve to be considered. He had 
a reputation as an expert on international law. Of all 
of the plenipotentiaries, however, Johann Giesberts was 
perhaps most remarkable. 

Giesberts rose from baker's apprentice to a position 
in the cabinet of the new Germany. That he should 
step into places vacated by men who had never had the 
slightest s\Tiipathy with the commoner of the empire 
was a great outstanding fact in the story of the German 
revolution. Giesberts did not play a major role at Ver- 
sailles, but his presence there permits this resume of his 
rise. 

He was a native of Straehlen, in the Rhine province, 



292 THE ADYENTUKES OF 

having been born February 3, 1865, the son of a master 
baker. In his youth he attended merely the primary 
school. From fifteen to eighteen years of age he was 
apprenticed in a bakery. Later he worked in a tile fac- 
tory, and after completing his service in the army he 
entered a brewery. He was employed in the large royal 
manufactories at Koln-lN"ippes in 1891, and was placed 
in charge of the mechanical department. His rise in 
public life dates from 1897, when he first took part in 
an international congress for the amelioration of work- 
ing conditions at Zurich. Two years later he became 
editor of the " West Deutsche Arbeiter Zeitung." He 
then became secretary of the workers at Miinchen-Glad- 
bach. In 1903 he was made municipal councilor of the 
village, and in 1905 was sent to the Reichstag by the 
electors of Essen. He became one of- the speakers of 
the Catholic Center party on social questions. 

Giesberts is president of the Christian Social Union 
of Metallurgists, and as such in close touch with groups 
led by Thyssen and Erzberger. During the war he la- 
bored successfully to promote a better understanding 
between the Catholic syndicates and the Socialist syndi- 
cates headed by Legien. His appointment as a mem- 
ber of the commission was a bold stroke to win the ap- 
probation of the workers of Germany. 

Although Giesberts was not a leader in the delegation, 
his views may be considered fairly typical. He de- 
clared that the Entente had no need to fear militarism 
and kaiserism in the future. Silesia he considered in- 
dispensable to German industry. The loss of the Saar 
basin he declared a vital blow at Germany, one that 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 293 

would result in the loss by immigration and annexation 
of 20,000,000 workers directly and indirectly dependent 
upon the products of the mines. He asserted that a 
strong Belgium and Alsace-Lorraine in the hands of the 
French precluded any ideas of conquest on the part of 
Germany. He favored either an entente between 
France and Germany as a means of avoiding economic 
rivalry and war, or an entente between England and 
the United States on the one hand and Germany on the 
other. He said that if the terms reported fixed by the 
Peace Conference were signed by Germany, the nation 
would cut its own throat, and that famine and unem- 
ployment would result. 

The views of Professor Walther Schiicking on the 
League of Nations are important not because they had 
any influence on the preparation of the covenant of the 
league, but because they may prove of value in the fu- 
ture after Germany enters the league in good standing. 
He is a native of Miinster in Westphalia, and was born 
in 1875. He is known as an authority on international 
law, and has written a large number of books, among 
them works on the use of mines in war, the problem of 
the nationalities, the work of the Hague courts, the 
League of Nations, and the Hague Conference of 1912. 
Before the war he was an associate of the Institute of 
International Law and vice-president of the League for 
International Understanding. His views on the league 
were given publicity in the ^' Frankfurter Zeitung " on 
February 28, 1919, when he commented at length on the 
covenant read by President Wilson. He asserted that 
the project as outlined was greatly inferior to the Ger- 



294 THE ADVENTURES OF 

man plan. In French circles it was pointed out that his 
project, developed by the society for the rights of man, 
would give to the vanquished most of the rights and 
privileges won by the victor. It outlined an approvi- 
sionnement of raw materials to meet German industrial 
needs ; the complete freedom of all maritime communi- 
cations and straits ; the open door and equal commercial 
rights for all nations in all foreign countries, including 
those of Germany's enemies ; the establishment of Ger- 
man consuls, representing in all colonial territories an 
international bureau of administration of colonies, and 
charged with watching over German commercial inter- 
ests there ; finally the installation of international com- 
missions, including Geraian commissioners in their 
memberships, in all ports of mixed population. Dr. 
Schucking also proposed to reduce armaments to twenty- 
five per cent, of their force in 1909. French critics 
pointed out that this would still give the German Army 
a preponderance, for at that time it was extraordinarily 
strong, whereas the French Aniiy was considerably 
smaller, owing to the two years' service law, while the 
British Army would have reached only about the size of 
the First Expeditionary Force, and the American Army 
was reduced to its small pre-war size and state militia. 
On the subject of the League of Nations Dr. Sch tick- 
ing declared : 

So long as we remain outside the League of Nations, it will 
appear as an imposing treaty of alliance signed by our enemies 
and directed against us. 

The pact of the League of Nations seeks to hide with a vine- 
leaf the rape of the German colonies, at the same time favoring 



THE FOUETEEN POINTS 295 

the English and French negotiations on the territories of the 
Ottoman Empire. 

Professor Schlicking was also of the opinion that 
^^ the internationalization of the high seas, advocated 
by President Wilson, has fallen completely under the 
table." 

The German delegation to Versailles comprised also 
a great group of men known as commissioners, this term 
evidently being subordinated to that of delegates, as the 
six principal representatives with plenipotentiary pow- 
ers were known. The commissioners were experts in 
various fields, such as finance, colonies, labor, railways, 
justice, commerce and industry, army and marine af- 
fairs. In addition to these came a number of technical 
advisers and representatives of the principal German 
newspapers, several of whom had formerly resided in 
the Entente countries. 

A number of German functionaries arrived the last 
week in April. They included Baron von Lersner, 
counselor of the legation; Ilerr Griebler, chief of the 
telegraphic service, and Herr Walther, inspector of 
mails, who was also associated with telephone and tele- 
graphic arrangements. Their work was to prepare 
quarters in the Hotel des Reservoirs for the delegation, 
and to make arrangements for direct telephone and tele- 
graphic connection with Frankfort, Spa and Cologne. 
Upon learning that there would be virtually two hun- 
dred persons in the German entourage, the French Gov- 
ernment reserved three hotels in Versailles for their 
convenience, the Hotel des Reservoirs, the Vatel, and 



296 THE ADVENTURES OF 

the Suisse, and decided that the park of the Trianon 
should be set aside for the use of the German delegates, 
and closed to the public. 

It was on the night of April 29 that the main body 
of the German delegation arrived. Paris at last, with- 
out fanfares, without salutes, without the beat of drums ! 
Not as conquering hosts, but as submissive representa- 
tives of a defeated government, come at the bidding of 
their conquerors. The special train entered the little 
station at Vaucresson at 8 :35 o^clock. Colonel Henry, 
head of the French mission delegated to take charge of 
the arrangements, was present with members of the 
mission ; a number of French local officials were also 
there. Baron von Lersner first entered the train and 
met Count von Brockdorff-Rantzau, and then introduced 
him to the French officials. The men saluted silently. 
M. Chaleil then said : 

" Excellency, as prefect of the department of the 
Seine et Oise in the name of the Government of the 
Republic I have the mission of receiving here the dele- 
gation of the German plenipotentiaries, of which you are 
the chief. I have the honor of saluting you. Colonel 
Henry, here present, is the chief of the French mission, 
which will be the organ of liaison between the German 
plenipotentiaries and the Government of the Republic 
and the Allied governments." 

Count von Brockdorff-Rantzau saluted, and replied 
in a low voice : 

" I thank you, M. le prefet, personally and in the 
name of my Government, and I pray you to transmit my 
thanks to the Government of the Republic." 



THE EOUETEEN POINTS 297 

The flash-liglits of the photographers illumined the 
historic scene. The delegation entered automobiles, and 
was driven to Versailles. Several camions were needed 
to transport a mass of documents and papers of all 
kinds. It was said that the delegates carried a great 
amount of documentary evidence intended to cast light 
upon the preparations for war, the situation in July, 
1914, the German information on the mobilization of 
the Russian and Belgian armies, and other data meant 
to help prove that Germany was not the sole aggressor. 
It was recalled at the same time that there was not a man 
in the German delegation who had openly stated his be- 
lief that Germany had begun the war or who had dis- 
avowed Germany's aims and practices. There were 
new names and new faces, but the background of Ger- 
man policy was the same as it had been during the war. 

The coming of the Germans created scarcely a ripple 
in the quiet daily life of Versailles. It is true that the 
hotels assumed a new air of bustling activity, and that 
the German clerks and secretaries began moving be- 
tween the three set aside for their use with the preoccu- 
pation of a family of ants. A few more automobiles 
rolled down the Avenue de Paris, a few more soldiers 
crossed the Place d'Armes, but on the whole Versailles 
scarcely moved an eyelid. It had a regal tradition and 
was stirred by great, not little, events. 

If the Germans had hoped to receive the treaty on the 
day after their arrival they were doomed to disappoint- 
ment. The Council of Four was not ready for them, 
and consequently it went quietly ahead, considering the 
causes laid before it, adjudicating disputes and award- 



298 THE ADVENTURES OF 

ing claims. The Germans fumed and fussed, and their 
journalists wrote long articles for the German news- 
papers, dilating upon the disagreements among the 
Council of Four and the fact that the Peace Conference 
might yet break up and deliver the Germans from bond- 
age. It was a fond hope, but only that. The council, 
which had been unmoved by the storm of protest from 
its own people, was not likely to be hurried by the 
Germans. 

On May 2 the first formal meeting between the Ger- 
man delegates and an official body of the Peace Confer- 
ence took place at the Palace of the Trianon, when the 
Germans presented their credentials to the committee 
of the conference, headed by M. Jules Cambon and in- 
cluding Mr. Henry White, Lord Hardinge, and M. 
Matsui. The Italian delegation was not represented, 
ostensibly as part of its protest against the methods of 
President Wilson. Colonel Henry introduced Count 
von Brockdorff-Rantzau to M. William Martin, director 
of the protocol, who in turn presented the German com- 
mittee on credentials, including Herr Landsberg, minis- 
ter of justice; Herr Simons, director of the section on 
justice for the ministry of foreign affairs; and Herr 
Ganss, counselor of the legation and associated as advo- 
cate with the ministry of foreign affairs. In view of 
the questionable status of the de facto German Govern- 
ment, considerable curiosity was shown in Allied circles 
as to how the German credentials w^ould be certified. 
It was extremely necessary for the Peace Conference to 
know that it was dealing with a body that had veritable 
powers, and not with one of shifting responsibility. 



THE F0UKTEE:N' points 299 

When the credentials were presented, it was found that 
they were typewritten on parchment and signed by 
Ebert as president of the Reich, and Scheidemann as 
chancellor. 

The German comment on the credentials of the Allied 
and Associated powers, which were handed in exchange, 
is interesting in view of the questions raised. The 
Germans found that those of Italy, Costa Rica, and 
Montenegro were not presented. On the other hand, 
the credentials of the Serbs were given as those of the 
Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, which 
had not been seated as such by the Peace Conference. 
The Germans also received the credentials of Bolivia 
and Peru, " with whom,'' said the Germans, " we were 
not at war," and those of Hedjaz, which during the war 
was a part of the Ottoman Empire, and whose defection 
the Germans and the Turks had not recognized. 

On May 7, at three o'clock in the afternoon, the Peace 
Conference formally handed to the German plenipoten- 
tiaries the treaty of peace, an amazing document of 440 
separate articles, comprising approximately 80,000 
words, covering every phase of the readjustment of the 
relations, political, economic, financial, military, be- 
tween Germany and her neighbors in Europe, the most 
exhaustive and remarkable document of its kind that the 
world has ever seen. May 7 was the anniversary of 
the sinking of the Lusitania by a German submarine. 

The ceremony took place in the ancient dining-room 
of the Palace of the Trianon, about a great table placed 
in the center of the room. M. Clemenceau sat at the 
head of the table, with President Wilson at his right and 



300 THE ADVENTURES OF 

Mr. Lloyd George at his left. The other powers were 
ranged at each hand. Pacing the president, sat the six 
German delegates, pale, determined, austere. Italy's 
representatives, Signor Orlando and Baron Sonnino, 
came back at the last moment and shook hands cordially 
with President Wilson. In all sixty-four delegates 
were present at the formal session. 

It was 3 :05 o'clock when M. Bonhomme, sergeant at 
arms of the ministry of foreign affairs, announced to the 
assembly : 

" The German plenipotentiaries ! " 

The German delegation of twelve entered. Count von 
Brockdorff-Eantzau at its head. The Allied and Asso- 
ciated delegates rose formally. The Germans bowed. 
M. William Martin led them to their places. M. Clem- 
enceau then announced: 

" The session is opened." 

The little president of the council seemed in the best 
of humor. His eyes twinkled. He spoke in an ani- 
mated manner with President Wilson and Mr. Lloyd 
George. He wore his regular attire, a black suit, a little 
black tie, and gray silk gloves. It was distinctly his 
day. He might have been thinking of 1871, when he, 
too, was an actor, although in a minor part in the drama 
at Bordeaux, in events so different from those taking 
place to-day. He plunged immediately into his speech. 
It lacked neither force, nor emphasis, nor directness. 
He said : 

It is neither the time nor the place for superfluous words. You 
have before you the accredited plenipotentiaries of all the small 
and great powers, united to fight together in the war that was so 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 301 

cruelly imposed upon them. The time has come when we must 
settle our accounts. You have asked for peace. We are ready to 
give you peace. We shall present to you now a book which con- 
tains our conditions. 

M. Clemenceau declared briefly that the Germans 
might offer their observations on the treaty, and that no 
oral discussion would take place, but all would be in 
writing. The Germans were to have fifteen days in 
which to present in English and French their written 
observations. The Peace Conference would reply as 
soon as they were presented. M. Clemenceau had lived 
too long to delude himself with fine phrases. He spoke 
his mind bluntly. He had always done so. He had 
made opponents by speaking his mind, but one thing 
was certain, his views were clear cut and known to 
friend and foe. 

The reply of Count von Brockdorff-Pantzau produced 
a most unfavorable impression on the Allied and Asso- 
ciated plenipotentiaries. Even though the conference 
did not look for abject apologies, it had expected an 
attitude of deference to its wishes. The German leader, 
however, spoke in what seemed a harsh and defiant tone. 
He began speaking without rising, a fact that caused 
the Allies to look at one another in astonishment, for M. 
Clemenceau had accorded that courtesy to his enemies. 
Why he did not rise Count von Brockdorff-Rantzau has 
never explained. Even his enemies attempted to find 
excuses for him; they were willing to credit it to an 
indisposition, but hardly to rudeness. President Wil- 
son, so the story goes, remarked on this fact to M. 
Clemenceau. 



302 THE ADVENTURES OF 

" We are accustomed to it," replied the French 
leader. ^^ This is the sort of treatmeut we have had 
to put up with in Europe for years." i 

Count von Erockdorti'-Kantzau spoke in German, and 
as he proceeded two German secretaries translated his 
remarks phrase by phrase into French and English. 
The course of his remarks may be followed by these ex- 
tracts from his address : 

We are under no illusion as to the extent of our defeat and the 
degree of our want of power. We know that the power of Ger- 
man arms is broken. We know the power of the hatred which we 
encounter here, and we have heard the passionate demand that the 
victors shall make us pay as the vanquished, and shall punish those 
who are worthy of being punished. 

It is demanded of us that we shall confess ourselves to be the 
only ones guilty of the war. Such a confession in my mouth will 
be a lie. We are far from declining any responsibility for this 
great world war having come to pass, and for its having been 
made in the way in which it was made. The attitude of the former 
German Government at the Hague peace conference, its actions 
and omissions in the tragic twelve days of July, certainly contrib- 
uted to the disaster, but we energetically deny that Germany and 
its people, who were convinced that they were making a war of 
defense, were alone guilty. . . . 

We repeat the declaration made in the German Reichstag at the 
beginning of the war; that is to say, *' A wrong has been done to 
Belgium, and we are willing to repair it." 

But in the manner of making war also Germany is not the only 
guilty one; every nation knows of the deeds of peoples which the 
best nationals only remember with regret. ... I ask you when 
reparation is demanded not to forget the armistice. It took you 
six weeks till we got it at last, and six months till we came to 
know your conditions of peace. Crimes in war may be excusable, 
but they are committed in the struggle for victory. . . . The hun- 
dreds of thousands of non-combatants who have perished since 
November 11 by reason of the blockade were killed with cold 
deliberation after our adversaries had conquered and victory had 
been assured to them. Think of that when you speak of guilt and 
of punishment. . . . 

The measure of guilt of all those who have taken part can only 



THE FOUETEE:^ points 303 

be stated by impartial inquest before a neutral commission before 
which all the principal persons of the tragedy are allowed to 
speak and to which all the archives are open. We have demanded 
such an inquest and we repeat this demand. . . . 

We are not without protection. . . . The principles of President 
Wilson have thus become binding for both parties to the war, for 
you as well as for us, and also for our former allies. 

Count von Brockdorff-Rantzau said that Germany was 
ready to repair the devastated areas in Belgium and 
France, but that it would be disastrous if this were to 
be done by the labor of prisoners of war. He warned 
against a crisis which might bring with it the inability 
of the Germans to repair the damages, and result in the 
disorder of the whole European economical system. 
" The conquerors as well as the vanquished people must 
guard against this menacing danger, with its incalcu- 
lable consequences. There is only one means of ban- 
ishing it — unlimited confession of the economical and 
social solidarity of all peoples in a free and rising 
League of Nations." 

He expressed the intention of the Germans to examine 
the document given them with good will, in the hope 
that it might finally be subscribed to by all. 

The remarks of the count, especially those regarding 
Allied responsibility for lives lost in Germany by the 
delay in negotiations caused an unfavorable reaction, as 
the Allies rejected this charge. M. Clemenceau rose 
and said : 

'' Has any one any more observations to offer ?' Does 
no one wish to speak ? If not the meeting is closed." 
It was 4 :05 p. m. 

The Germans withdrew, and soon thereafter the con- 
ference adjourned, A few of the delegates delayed 



304 THE ADVENTURES OF 

their departure ; for the bulky volume which had given 
the Germans the surprise of their lives was no less a 
surprise to many of the members of the Peace Confer- 
ence, men representing friendly powers who might have 
been considered in close touch with the work of the 
council, and yet who stood on the outside, almost as far 
on the outside as the Germans. 

And so the treaty was given to the Germans, and by 
them made public, as it deserved to be, but as for the 
Allied and Associated governments, they still main- 
tained an air of secrecy about certain of its provisions. 
A summary was presented to the press, and although it 
had been drawn up with care, it was hardly more than 
a superficial resume of a work that dealt with infinitesi- 
mal details. That the treaty was not formally given to 
the world at the time it was presented to the Germans 
is inexplicable and inexcusable; it reached the public 
by devious channels, through the publications of the 
Germans, through violations of confidence, through 
garbled accounts given by commissioners and delegates. 
Even the members of the French Chamber of Deputies 
complained that they had to buy the German newspapers 
to get a detailed account of the treaty of peace, while the 
United States Senate found a new grievance in the fact 
that it had been again ignored. Technically, the Sen- 
ate could not well receive the treaty until it had been 
signed ; but publication of the document would have ob- 
viated this new criticism and avoided jeopardizing its 
ratification, a matter that was as vital to its success as 
its signature. Here again the American President, 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 305 

technically within his rights, failed to grasp the needs 
of the situation. 

It was a quiet and uncommunicative group of men 
that returned that night to the Hotel des Reservoirs. 
In the dining-room scarce a word was spoken above a 
whisper. At the central table, where Count von Brock- 
dorff-Eantzau presided in the midst of twelve members 
of the delegation, men ate their meal in silence. When 
he rose, the work of translation was immediately begun. 
Throughout the night the secretaries labored and by 
three a. m. a German copy was in his hands. Not until 
dawn did the head of the German delegation cease his 
labors. 

To the Allied and Associated powers it was evident 
that Germany had sent to Versailles no chastened and 
humbled representatives. Leaders who had hoped for 
a new attitude as a result of the great debacle, shook 
their heads. 

" It is the same Germany," they said sadly. 



CHAPTER XYI 

A pilgrimage to the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, and how it 
recalls the founding of an empire forty-eight years ago. 

Tramp, tramp , tramp, thej come, like an army on 
parade, up the stone-paved forecourt of the Palace of 
Versailles, where once the Swiss Guard stood at atten- 
tion ; up the narrow staircase that leads to the chapel of 
the Bourbon kings, their heavy hobnailed shoes ringing 
through the corridors. Into the great Hall of Hercules 
they march, their heels grinding into the sawdust that 
now lies thick on floors once lightly touched by the 
dainty, slippered feet of a royalty that now lives merely 
in romance. Tan shoes; clay-colored puttees; khaki 
uniforms ; bronzed, oval faces ; the overseas cap — these 
are the doughboys of the American Army invading the 
palace of Versailles. 

The leader is uniformed much as they are, but there 
are red letters and a triangle on his cap that indicate his 
affiliation with the Y. M. C. A. He is not a profes- 
sional guide, merely an amateur; vice-president of a 
bank, perhaps, in his home town in York State, or owner 
of a cattle-ranch in sunny Texas, and has come across for 
the love of the work. Not a professional, but he has 
read history with the mind of a student and the interest 
of a lover of old things. He stands in the middle of this 
old room, with head held high, telling the story of other 

300 



THE EOUETEEN POINTS 307 

days clearly and simply as if he were addressing a group 
of children. And so he is, for many of these men who 
crowd about him are children from the 'New World, 
hearing for the first time the legends of the Old, listen- 
ing to these stories of kings and queens and princesses 
much as once they listened to the tales of knights-errant 
and gay cavaliers. 

" The Hall of Hercules," declaims the guide. " Ob- 
serve the painting on the ceiling by Lemoyne. Here 
once was located the altar of the palace, before the great 
chapel was built by Mansart. Here preached Bourda- 
loue and Massillon. Here were married the Duke of 
Maine, son of King Louis XIV and Mme. De Monte- 
span ; the Duke of Burgundy and the Duke of Chartres. 
We will pass to the grand apartments, where the court 
met nightly; we will see the Salon of Diana, where 
Louis le Grand played at billiards; the Salon of Mars, 
once a concert-room; the Salon of Mercury, where, so 
Mme. de Sevigne tells us, the queen lost heavily at cards, 
and Monsieur, the king's brother, pledged his jewels to 
pay his gambling debts. Here, too, for eight days stood 
the coffin of Louis XIV; then the Salon of Apollo; and 
the Salon of War — " 

Tramp, tramp, tramp, onward through the rooms 
where once lived and moved the royalty and the nobility 
of France — rooms that still contain the costly tapes- 
tries, the quaint mural decorations, the gorgeous ceil- 
ings, and the sunlike emblems of the roi soleil. Let us 
follow this small army from the West — from Ohio and 
Oklahoma and the hill-sides of the Sierras — through 
these ancient rooms. 



308 THE ADVENTURES OF 

'^ The Salon of Apollo was once the throne-room," 
savs the guide. " Here was placed the great throne of 
pure silver on which sat Louis XIV when he wished to 
impress his visitors from foreign lands. Here Louis 
received the Doge of Genoa, who, when asked what he 
considered most remarkable at Versailles, replied, ^ That 
I should be here! ' And then the Hall of War, where 
Louis received the ambassadors from other lands. Ob- 
serve the magnificent ceiling bv Lebrun, with the paint- 
ing that depicts Germany, Holland, and Spain taking 
alarm at the mighty conquests of the great French mon- 
arch. And from the Hall of War we pass into that 
most magnificent of all rooms — the galerie des 
glaces — the Hall of Mirrors ! " 

The Hall of Mirrors at last! Across the garden 
front of the palace it stretches, a continuation at one 
end of the Hall of War, at the other of the Hall of 
Peace. The incomparable salon, so truly a part of the 
history of France, where have been enacted scenes that 
recall her glory and her humiliation ! And here is to be 
staged that culminating act of the Great War — the 
signing of the treaty of peace. 

Let us enter this formal room. At the first glance it 
appears narrow. The guide tells us that it was built by 
V Mansart in 1678, and that it is 240 feet long, 35 feet 
wide, and 42 feet high. These are mere details that go 
unnoticed. What strikes the eye is the long line of 
mirrors that fills every inch of the seventeen great arches 
^ rising on the wall opposite the seventeen great windows 
that look out over one of the most magnificent gardens 
of the world. There is a frieze of gold and white, odd 



Y 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 309 

allegorical figures of children and trophies of war, by 
Coysevox, and above, on the ceiling, the allegorical y 
paintings of Lebrun, eulogizing the career of Louis le 
Grand. It was a great tradition that began here, too 
great for the successors of Louis to carry. 

These mirrors have reflected the old monarch in all 
his plumage. They have helped diffuse the light from 
the tall silver candelabra with the eight branches, 
chiseled to depict the labors of Hercules, that illumi- 
nated this hall. They have brought to Marie Antoi- 
nette the joy of beholding herself the most beautiful 
woman of a beautiful retinue. Lords of high estate, 
princes, generals, ambassadors, and plebeians have 
passed before them. Here the nobility of France paid 
honor to the Prince of Conde. Here smiled Mme. de 
Maintenon, secretly married to Louis XIV, of whom her 
most bitter enemy said that she never appeared old, not 
even at seventy. Here passed Mme. de Pompadour, 
" la Reinette," beloved of Louis XV ; and Mme. du 
Barry, on the eve of her presentation. Racine was 
here, writing for the royal theater, where his " Athalie " 
was presented by the demoiselles of Saint-Cyr ; and Vol- 
taire, favored by Mme. de Pompadour, and writing for 
her " La princesse de Navarre," put to music by Ra- 
meau. And before these mirrors, too, passed Jean 
Bart, intrepid hero of the sea; the powerful Marshal 
Turenne ; and an old man of dry wit, plain middle-class 
attire, flowing gray locks, and firm, compressed lips — 
Benjamin Franklin. 

The costly furniture with which Louis le Grand once 
adorned this hall has vanished. Gone are the silver 



310 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

chairs and tables, the silver taborets, the silver candela- 
bra, the silver jardinieres that held orange-trees laden 
with their golden fruit. Long since melted down are 
the J, like the silver throne, to pay the toll of the costly 
wars waged by the great monarch in his failing years. 
Gone, too, are the heavy damask hangings of blue and 
gold that, we are told, decorated the seventeen great win- 
dows, and the alabaster vases encrusted with gold ; and 
in place of the costly settees we now see low upholstered 
benches that serve to rest the weary limbs of wide-eyed 
sightseers. 

And here, in this Hall of Mirrors, on January 18, 
1871, was proclaimed the German Empire, which, 
erected on force and aggression, now lies humbled in 
the dust. 

January 18, 1871 — it was a memorable day. It 
deserves to be recalled as we stand here in this hall, for 
we are living the sequel to- the story that began here. It 
was President Poincare, you will remember, who first 
spoke of that date at this Peace Conference, on January 
18, 1919, in the hall of the clock at the ministry of 
foreign afi^airs, when he said : " This very day, forty- 
eight years ago, on the eighteenth of January, 1871, the 
German Empire was proclaimed by an army of invasion, 
in the Chateau at Versailles. It was consecrated by the 
theft of two French provinces. It was thus vitiated 
from its origin, and by the fault of its founders. Born 
in injustice, it has ended in opprobrium." 

Let us go back into the twilight zone of history for 
this story that is so fitting an introduction to the events 
of which we are a part. 



THE FOUETEElSr POINTS 311 

On December 9, 1870, the North German Confedera- 
tion, organized after Sadowa, was transformed into a 
German Confederation by consent of all its members, 
with the King of Prussia as president. But Bismarck 
did not consider this sufficient for cementing German 
unity, to which most Germans had looked forward ever 
since the days of the Holy Roman Empire. Eor nearly 
half of the nineteenth century both Austria and Prussia 
had aspired to the imperial title, and Prussia had been 
able to block all Austrian attempts to win it until the 
seven weeks' war proved the turning-point that defi- 
nitely put Prussia on the high road to success, and 
started Austria on her downward path that ended in the 
debacle of 1918. Bismarck, prime minister for Prus- 
sia, who dictated the lenient terms of peace to Austria, 
had labored all his life at the task of achieving German 
unity. " Unity and centralization," he said, was all 
that was needed. 

When Prussia entered upon the war against 
Prance in 1870, Bismarck worked harder to accom- 
plish his object than ever before, and hand in hand 
with the task of fighting France went the intrigues 
that were to lay low all opposition among the independ- 
ent and headstrong German leaders who feared and 
envied Prussia. Suffice it to say that the King of Ba- 
varia undertook the mission of proposing to the heads of 
the members of the new German Confederation that the 
title of its president be changed to that of emperor, that 
he rule as the head of the new DeutscJies Reich, the 
German Empire, a title which even to-day, after the 
revolution has passed over Germany, and the crown of 



312 THE ADVEl^TUKES OF 

the Ilohenzollern has rolled in the dust, is retained as 
the appellation of the German Eepublic. 

The king's office was well performed. One day a 
deputation from the Reichstag, led by Herr Simson, 
who in 1848 presided at the national assembly at Frank- 
fort and vainly offered the imperial crown to Frederick 
William IV, now came to Versailles to offer to William 
I, brother of Frederick William, the crown that Ger- 
many regarded as that of Charlemagne and of the Cae- 
sars, of the empire of the Middle Ages. It was just 170 
years after William's ancestor, then known as elector of 
Brandenburg, had acquired the title of King of Prussia, 
and just sixty-four years after William himself, as a 
child in arms, had fled with his royal parents from 
Berlin before the armies of Napoleon, seeking refuge 
in the fortress at Memel. William was well along in 
years now, at the age where most men of wealth and posi- 
tion would have been glad to lay down the cares of state. 
His career, begun in the tempestuous Napoleonic times, 
had included participation in the Bliicher campaign 
against Napoleon in 1814 and the Waterloo campaign 
of 1815, and attendance with his father at the Congress 
of Vienna, and in 1858, he had become regent of Prus- 
sia in the place of his mad brother, and in 1861, king. 

Before the eyes of the world the proclamation of the 
emperor at Versailles proceeded smoothly and harmoni- 
ously. We will gaze first upon that historic picture be- 
fore we penetrate behind the scenes and behold the 
strings that operate the puppets. To gain a better idea 
of how the Hall of Mirrors looked on that day, we will 
walk almost to its middle. The ceiling, we will observe, 




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THE FOUETEEN POINTS 318 

is divided into seven compartments. Each contains a 
picture celebrating the virtues of Louis XIV, painted 
by Lebrun. Beginning with the end adjacent to the 
Hall of War we behold, first, the passage of the Rhine 
in 1672 and the capture of Maestricht, 1673; second, 
the preparation of the land and sea forces by Louis in 
1672 ; third, a council of war held by Louis, the Duke of 
Orleans, the Prince of Conde, and the Marshal Turenne 
before an attack on the Dutch forts ; fourth, a representa- 
tion of Louis XIV ruling alone, with the legend " Le 
roi gouverne par lui-meme," and allegorical figures rep- 
resenting Germany, Spain, and Holland ; fifth, the king 
resolves to chastise the Dutch; sixth, the reconquest of 
the province of Eranche-Comte in 1674; seventh, the 
capture of the town and citadel of Ghent in 1678. 

Take your place under the fourth panel, virtually in 
the middle of the long hall. Here stood William I of 
Hohenzollern on January 18, 1871. 

Here also was placed an altar. It bore a red cloth 
with the iron cross of Prussia in black. To the left and 
the right of the altar stood deputations from the Ger- 
man troops who had come to Versailles with the banners 
of the troops. These banners were held by standard' 
bearers on a dais on the east end of the hall. They in- 
cluded five flags of the Guards ; five flags of the Land- 
wehr Guards ; eighteen of the 5th Corps ; ten of the 6th 
Corps ; five of the 11th Corps, and others, fifty-six in all. 

Near King William, grouped in a semicircle, stood 
the Crown Prince Frederick William of Prussia, the 
princes Karl and Adelbert of Prussia ; the Crown Prince 
of Saxony and Prince George; the grand dukes of 



314 THE ADVENTURES OF 

Baden, Saxony, and Oldenburg; the dukes of Coburg, 
Meiningen, and Altenburg; the princes Otto, Luitpold, 
and Leopold of Bavaria; Prince William and Prince 
Augustus and Duke Eugene the Elder and Eugene the 
Younger of Wiirtemberg ; the hereditary grand dukes of 
Saxony, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and Mecklenburg- 
Strelitz ; the Princes of Schaumburg-Lippe and Schwarz- 
burg-Rudolstadt ; the hereditary Prince of Hohenzol- 
lern; the Landgrave of Hesse; the Duke of Augusten- 
burg; the princes of Wied, Potous, Lynar, and Pless; 
the princes of Eeuss, Croy, and the Baron of Courland. 

These are names that history has gathered unto her- 
self, to be stored in the musty old archives for the 
scholar and the student of forgotten things; they have 
been swept out, as Carl Sandburg would say, on God's 
great dust-pan. 

At the side of the princes and behind them stood the 
generals and ministers. At the left were Count von 
Bismarck and Baron von Schleinitz. At the right. 
Minister of State Delbriick and Count von Moltke. 

The king wore the uniform of the Eirst Guards, in 
which he first earned field rank in 1814. He wore the 
cordon of the order of the Black Eagle of Prussia, the 
order of the Red Eagle, the full insignia of the order of 
the Garter, and the Russian order of St. George. 

When William entered at 12:15 o'clock the choir, 
made up of members of three regiments, sang " Jauch- 
zet dem Herrn alle Welt " [" Praise the Lord all the 
Earth"]. A prayer was then read by the Lutheran 
chaplain. Dr. RUgger. The chaplain looked up at the 
legend,*^*^ Le roi gouverne par lui-meme/' and used it as 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 315 

the theme for his discourse. This was followed again 
by prayer, and the singing of the hymn " Nun danhet 
alle GoW ["Give ye all thanks unto the Lord"]. 
The king, followed by the princes, then walked over to 
the regimental flags and, stepping upon the dais, de- 
clared to the assembled body, numbering between ^ve 
hundred and six hundred officers, that he accepted the 
title of German Emperor at the request of the people 
and the princes of Germany, and in order to bring 
about the national union of the fatherland. He then 
said: 

" I command my chancellor to read aloud my procla- 
mation to the German people.'' 

Count Bismarck then read to the assembly the king's 
promise that he would do what the princes and the free 
towns had unanimously desired, add the title of imperial 
to the Prussian crown, and use the imperial title in all 
affairs of state. He spoke of a change of frontier which 
would guarantee Germany against future attacks by 
France, and the hope for lasting peace and freedom. 
The king closed, and the Grand Duke of Baden, step- 
ping to the foreground, exclaimed : 

'' Es lehe Seine Majestdt der Deutsche Kaiser Wil- 
helm, hoch ! *' 

[" Long live his Majesty the German Emperor Wil- 
liam, hoch!"] 

The band thereupon struck up '*" Heil dir im Sieger- 
Tcranz," and the emperor and the crown prince embraced 
thrice. The ceremony was concluded. 

Harmoniously enough it seemed before the world, yet 
several of its principal actors were to disclose in later 



316 THE ADVEKTURES OF 

years that not all the felicitations had come willingly. 
It had been an arduous task for Bismarck to gain the 
consent not only of various elements of the German Con- 
federation, but of King William himself, to have the 
Prussian monarch made German emperor. 

" What do you wish to do, give me the title of major 
caracterisef declared William, when Bismarck first 
approached him on the subject, referring to the title 
which it was the custom to bestow on officers of the 
Prussian Army who were about to be retired. 

" Your Majesty would not wish to remain eternally 
a neuter noun das Prdsidium/' replied Bismarck, refer- 
ring to the title of president of the German Confedera- 
tion. 

For a long time Bismarck was not able to convince 
King William that he could make the imperial office a 
living and vital thing. William hesitated, the crown 
prince demurred. Finally William consented, but 
hardly with the alacrity with which the more recent 
William II would have accepted the imperial office. 
Then a new obstacle presented itself, and this time it 
was the style of the imperial title that caused the diffi- 
culty. 

William was ready to become Emperor of Germany, 
but Bismarck's idea that he should be named DeutscJier 
Kaiser — German Emperor — hurt his susceptibilities. 
For Emperor of Germany meant a sovereign over all, 
whereas German Emperor meant merely a leader among 
equals. William did not like that, and would not budge 
an inch in his position. Bismarck cited the instance of 
the old emperors, who did not term themselves emper- 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 317 

ors of Eome, but Roman emperors, whick led William 
to remark that it was immaterial to him what they did 
in those days ; that he wanted to be styled Emperor of 
Germany. 

The ceremony in the hall of mirrors was to take place 
the following day, and as the Grand Duke of Baden had 
already been chosen to give the " hoch " at the end of 
the imperial discourse, Bismarck found it necessary to 
admonish him to be careful to distinguish between the 
two forms, and for safety's sake to give a " vive " for 
the Emperor William, rather than for the Emperor of 
Germany. 

And so the spectacle was staged, and the Grand Duke 
of Baden carried out his part, and there stepped down 
from the dais to receive the congratulations of the 
princes, dukes, generals, and men of lesser rank a man 
who had just been proclaimed emperor and who was 
boiling with rage within, almost beside himself, because 
he deemed that he had been used as a dupe by a crafty 
statesman. Bismarck has told the story of what fol- 
lowed. Hardly hiding his pique, the emperor affected 
not to see his chancellor, who through chicanery, in- 
trigue, hidden pressure, force, and argumentative power 
had just wrung consent from the unwilling German 
princes and placed the imperial title upon the head of a 
Hohenzollern. His Majesty was about to pass out of 
the palace by the famous stairs of the princes when he 
encountered Bismarck standing in the open space before 
the steps. He passed him without recognition, and gave 
his hand to the generals who stood behind Bismarck. 
Eor several days William persisted in an uncompromis- 



318 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

ing attitude, and it was weeks before he restored his 
chancellor fully into his confidence. 

Now comes a curious and most unusual circumstance, 
which illustrates how strange are the ways of Fate, and 
how portentous events grow out of little things. I 
mean to refer to an incident that is almost responsible 
for the founding of the German Empire and the procla- 
mation of William as German Emperor on the day I 
have just described, and to tell its story I must go again 
into the twilight zone of history. 

In the early days of the Franco-Prussian War, when 
the news of the French defeats reached Paris, the per- 
sonal and private correspondence of the Emperor l^apo- 
leon III and of the imperial family was gathered to- 
gether and sent out of France. It reached the frontier 
immediately after the defeat at Sedan, and there was 
stopped by the prefect of police of the provisional gov- 
ernment, which had been set up in place of the empire. 
A commission was named to publish the documents, 
with a view of determining the steps that led up to the 
war. 

The correspondence was duly printed in an official 
publication, dated September 24, 1870, and disclosed 
that virtually none of the letters discussed anything but 
routine matters, and that none gave any clue to the 
diplomatic negotiations which the nation was certain 
would exonerate the French people from complicity in 
making war. It was evident that some of the important 
letters had been removed. An investigation was then 
made at the house of M. Rouher, former president of the 
senate and virtually vice-emperor, and it was discovered 



THE rOURTEElSr POINTS 319 

that he had taken flight with his family and departed 
for England. Eouher had a country home at Cergay, a 
chateau near Brunoy, southeast of Paris. This house 
was reached on October 10, 1870, by the lYth Division 
of Mecklenburg infantry, of which the advance guard 
took quarters in this chateau. In making a thorough 
search of the premises according to the time-honored 
custom of the German Army, the soldiers came upon a 
great quantity of papers and letters. The men began 
to throw them to the winds, but an officer with more 
intelligence than the soldiers immediately recognized 
that they might be of value to his chiefs and called a 
halt. He had the find put in boxes and shipped to 
Count von Bismarck, then occupying the home of Mme. 
Jesse at No. 14 Rue de Provence in Versailles, the 
house that is to-day occupied by Henri Jesse, the son 
of Mme. Jesse. 

It is certain that Bismarck opened these boxes. It 
is certain that he read these historic French documents, 
covering a number of years. What was in them? 
Only vague references have been made to them. No 
one not in the secret circle of German diplomacy, it 
seems, was ever permitted to read them. But that they 
contained matters of the greatest import to Erance and 
to Germany all historians agree. In fact, many of 
them dwell upon the plans, the reports, the memoranda, 
and correspondence that covered some of the most diffi- 
cult years in European diplomacy. Only once did Bis- 
marck see fit to publish extracts from these papers. 
This came in October, 1871, when Benedetti, ambassa- 
dor of France to Germany, whose confidence was shame- 



320 THE ADVENTUEES OF 

fully misused by Bismarck, published his book, " Ma 
Mission en PrusseJ" Bismarck published a number of 
papers purporting to deal with various demands made 
by Kapoleon III at the time of the readjustment of the 
Luxemburg question by the revision of the treaty of 
1839 in 1866. 

It was then that a French journal made the inter- 
esting disclosure that in addition to the papers pub- 
lished by Bismarck, there were included in the Cergay 
documents the correspondence between the French Gov- 
ernment and the prime ministers of Bavaria and Wiir- 
temberg of the years 1865 and 1866, the very years 
when those two nations were doing everything in their 
power to prevent Prussia from gaining the imperial title 
by her growing ascendency and military victory over 
Austria. Appealing to the French Emperor, the south- 
em states of Germany endeavored to gain his help 
against Prussia. Count von Bray, who was minister of 
foreign affairs of Bavaria at this time, was an inti- 
mate friend of Count von Beust, the Austrian prime 
minister. Bray arrived at Versailles on October 23, 
1870, about the time that the heavily laden boxes of 
documents reached Bismarck from Cergay. Up to this 
moment opposition to the idea of Prussian leadership 
in a German confederation and empire had been stead- 
ily growing, and not the least of the opponents were 
Bavaria and Wiirtemberg. Bray came to Versailles 
determined to carry out his own idea, and yet in a few 
days had swung round to Bismarck's view. No less 
sudden was the conversion of the other southern states, 
and the two historians who have given the greatest 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 321 

thought to this odd chapter in the story of the German 
empire — M. Joseph Reinach, to whose research we are 
indebted for the details, and von Ruville, a professor of 
the university of Halle who wrote a history of the 
restoration of the empire, both pointed to the posses- 
sion by Bismarck of these secret documents involving 
the integrity of the south German states as the reason 
for the collapse of all opposition. In fact von Ruville 
wrote: "The secret documents of the ministers of 
the south German states in the power of Bismarck ex- 
plains the easy denouement of the negotiations of No- 
vember, 1870. The idea forces itself upon me: here 
is the key to the foundation of the German Empire." 

What is in these secret documents ? What disclosures 
did Bismarck find that enabled him to gain the whip 
hand over his recalcitrant compatriots ? The world has 
learned much of the story of the German Empire within 
the last few years ; it is fitting that it should learn the 
whole story of how it was founded. That story is con- 
tained in the secret archives of Napoleon III, long since 
removed from Versailles and carted to Berlin, where 
they rest to-day among the documents that have been 
garnered from near and far by that amazing system 
which had its headquarters in the Wilhelmstrasse. And 
the world shall know. Thanks to M. Piccionni, di- 
rector of the French archives, and M. Joseph Reinach, 
one of the vice-presidents of the commission of diplo- 
matic archives, the documents are to be returned to 
France. For Article 245 of Section II of the treaty 
of peace, dealing with special provisions, reads : 

Within six months of the coming into force of the present treaty 



322 THE FOURTEEN POINTS 

the German government must restore to the French government 
the trophies, archives, historical souvenirs or works of art carried 
away from France by the German authorities In the course of the 
war of 1870-1871 and during this last war. In accordance with a 
list which will be communicated to It by the French government: 
particularly the French flags taken in the course of the war of 
1870-1871 and all the political papers taken by the German au- 
thorities on October 10, 1870, at the chateau of Cer^ay, near 
Brunoy, (Seine-et-Oise) belonging at the time to M. Rouher, 
formerly minister of state. 



CHAPTER XVII 

How Count von Brockdorff-Rantzau made use of his fifteen 
days, which were pretty dark, and his fifteen nights, which were 
just as dark. 

From the very first the diplomatic battle between the 
Germans and the Allied and Associated powers which 
followed the presentation of the treaty of peace was a 
fight for interpretation of the Fourteen Points. 

That, as I have reiterated again and again, was the 
basis on which the Western powers agreed to make 
peace. That was the basis on which Germany signed 
the terms of the armistice. And between November 11, 

1918, the day the armistice was signed, and May 7, 

1919, the day the completed treaty was handed to the 
Germans, it was purely a question of interpretation. 
That it remains to-day. 

Count von Brockdorff-Rantzau had said that after- 
noon at the Trianon : 

We are not quite without protection. You yourselves have 
brought us an ally; namely, the right which is guaranteed by the 
treaty, by the principles of the peace. The allied and associated 
governments forswore in the time between October 5 and Novem- 
ber 5, 1918, a peace of violence, and wrote a "peace of justice" 
on their banner. On October 5, 1918, the German government 
proposed the principles of the President of the United States of 
North America as the basis of peace, and on "November 5 their 
secretary of state, Mr. Lansing, declared that the allied and asso- 
ciated powers agreed to this basis with two definite deviations. 
The principles of President Wilson have thus become binding for 

?23 



324 THE ADVENTURES OF 

both parties to the war, you as well as for us, and also for our 
former allies. . . . 

So it was but natural and logical that when the treaty, 
with its far-reaching provisions, came into the hands of 
the Germans, they declared it violated the principles 
for which the American President had pledged his word, 
and which had been guaranteed them in the armistice. 

" It is a sentence of death," said Scheidemann ; " the 
Entente's conditions contradict the Fourteen Points. 
What has become to-day of the exchange of guarantees 
of disarmament, pledged in the fourth? And as for 
the fifth, Germany gives its colonies to the Allies, as 
well as rights in Africa acquired by virtue of diverse 
international conventions." 

" Down to the least detail the intention of France 
to humble Germany is visible," said Professor Schiick- 
ing. 

" This peace is a peace of violence," said Prince Lich- 
novsky, former ambassador to England. " It is not 
based upon justice ; to me it seems to be dictated under 
the influence of Marshal Foch." 

On May 8 the German cabinet met and drew up a 
proclamation to the German nation. It declared that 
the German people had loyally carried out the terms 
of the armistice. " The German people bore all the 
burdens, trusting in the promise given by the Allies in 
the note of I^ovember 5 that the peace w^ould be a peace 
of right on the basis of President Wilson's Fourteen 
Points. What, instead of that, is now given us in the 
peace terms is in contradiction of the promise." On 
May 9 the Imperial Government and the Prussian State 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 325 

Government issued a joint proclamation to the German 
East mark, deploring the demands for the cession of 
Upper Silesia, Posen, and Dantzic, which, they said, 
" are so many attacks upon the right of self-determina- 
tion of the population of these territories, which have 
acquired by German work and German culture all that 
which to-day constitutes their chief excellence. These 
attacks are entirely incompatible with the principles 
announced by President Wilson. . . ." 

The German stock exchange closed for three days. 
The German states agreed to suspend public amuse- 
ments. The Government considered a day — nay a 
week — of mourning. But, said " Ereiheit," the Ber- 
lin organ of the radical socialists: 

" From the standpoint of the imperialist policy of 
force such as Germany pursued at Brest-Litovsk, the 
peace terms of the entente must be regarded as quite 
moderate.'^ 

Germany had forgotten Brest-Litovsk. 

On May 9 Count von Brock dor ff-Kantzau presented 
to M. Clemenceau four notes, the first of a long series of 
notes taking exceptions to the treaty of peace and sug- 
gesting modifications. The very first note bore an allu- 
sion to the Fourteen Points : " They (the Germans) 
have had to realize that on essential points the basis of 
the peace of right agreed upon between the belligerents 
has been abandoned.'^ The Allies replied at once that 
" they wish to remind the German delegation that they 
have framed the terms of the treaty with constant 
thought of the principles upon which the armistice and 
the negotiations of peace were proposed ; they can admit 



326 THE ADVEISTTUEES OF 

of no discussion of their right to insist upon the terms 
of the peace substantially as drafted." 

How extensively Germany's boundary-lines were af- 
fected by the treaty of peace may be gleaned from an 
examination of the various changes it provided for. 
Eirst of all, Alsace and Lorraine reverted to France, and 
here the German boundary went back to the Ehine, 
where it had been in 1870. The Saar basin is a con- 
tinuation of Lorraine, and here the German line receded 
at least temporarily and perhaps for all time. German 
sovereignty had not extended over Luxemburg, but it 
was a member of the German customs union, and its 
railways were a part of the German system. This was 
wiped out by the treaty, and Germany agreed to abide 
by all arrangements which the Allied and Associated 
powers might conclude with this government. The 
boundary receded beyond Prussian Moresnet, and the 
circles of Eupen and Malmedy, also known as Prussian 
Wallonia, although the treaty stipulated that within six 
months after the treaty comes into force the Belgians 
will open registers at Eupen and Malmedy so that all 
who wish may record in writing their desire to have 
the whole or a part of the territories remain under Ger- 
man sovereignty. The boundary receded also in 
Schleswig, where the treaty attempts to right Germany's 
little omission to let the Danes have a plebiscite, prom- 
ised by Bismarck in the Treaty of Prague between 
Prussia and Austria in 1866. The plebiscite to come 
covers virtually two thirds of Schleswig, the southern- 
most line passing a short distance to the south of Flens- 
burg. Dantzic becomes a free city under the guaranty 



THE FOUETEE:tT POINTS 327 

of the League of Nations, and an international area is 
provided in order to give Poland access to the sea. A 
considerable recession of sovereignty is provided for in 
East Prussia, although plebiscites are to be held in a 
district betvs^een the southern frontier of East Prussia 
and the western and northern boundary of the Regie- 
rungshezirh Allenstein to its junction with the north- 
ern boundary between the Kreise of Oletsko and Anger- 
burg; thence the northern boundary of the Kreise of 
Oletsko to its junction with the old frontier of East 
Prussia. In the area between the Nogat and the Vis- 
tula the inhabitants also will be asked to decide whether 
they wish German or Polish sovereignty. A strip 
around Memel, at the northeasternmost part of Prussia, 
is also renounced, and Germany will accept the deci- 
sion of the Allies regarding the final disposition of 
these territories. Upper Silesia receives a plebiscite 
at which the inhabitants will determine their prefer- 
ence between Poland and Germany ; here are located the 
principal coal-mines. The new Kingdom of Poland 
is carved out of the heart of the former Prussia, so 
that the German boundaries are considerably changed 
here, and what was formerly Prussian Poland, or, as 
the Germans would say, Polish Prussia, will be joined 
to the Polish kingdom in Russia to form the new state. 
In addition Germany suffers the following modifica- 
tions of sovereignty : Germany is to lease space in the 
ports of Hamburg and Stettin for ninety-nine years to 
Czecho-Slovakia, in order to give that inland state access 
to the sea. An international regime is provided for 
the Ehine, part of the Moselle, the Elbe, the Oder, the 



328 THE ADVENTURES OF 

J^iemen and the Danube. There is a modification of 
control of the Kiel Canal, which is to be '^ maintained 
free and open to the vessels of commerce and of war 
of all nations at peace with Germany on terms of entire 
equality." Germany does not lose sovereignty over the 
Rhine provinces, but may not build forts or quarter 
troops west of the Rhine or west of a line drawn fifty 
kilometers east of the Rhine. 

Count von Brockdorff-Rantzau now began to attack 
the treaty in a series of rifle-volleys and cannon-broad- 
sides. He sniped at the League of Nations; he fired 
grape-shot and canister at the idea that one foot of 
German soil should pass into alien hands. His notes 
came almost daily. He presented substitutes for cer- 
tain clauses of the treaty, urged the amelioration of 
others, and suggested that others be wiped out entirely. 
The council replied to his notes as quickly as possible. 
The four leaders of the conference worked at a tre- 
mendous rate of speed. Even when the German ques- 
tions were answered by experts and technical advisers, 
the four revised and edited them and thoroughly di- 
gested their contents before sending them to Versailles. 
In addition they continued their routine work, and this 
included such difficult tasks as preparing another treaty 
of peace for presentation to the Austrian delegates at 
St. Germain-en-Laye ; taking measures to deal with 
Bela Kun and the Bolshevist situation in Hungary; 
continuing consideration of the claims of Italy, Ru- 
mania, and Greece, and hearing pleas on a great variety 
of subjects. 

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cession of the Saar basin. Ignoring the fact that the 
League of Nations would determine the government of 
the basin for fifteen years at least, the Germans treated 
the subject as if the basin already had been turned over 
to France. The German proposals and the detailed 
reply of the Peace Conference on this subject are con- 
tained in the notes of the Germans, dated May 13 and 
16, and in the reply dated May 24. 

In the first of these notes Count von Brockdorff- 
Eantzau takes up the question of cession of German 
territory. He raises objection to the fact that Den- 
mark, a neutral country, seeks adjustment of the fron- 
tier difficulties in Schleswig through the medium of 
the Peace Conference, and asks by what authority the 
conference is enabled to regulate this question. He 
adds, however, that if the Danish Government wishes 
to press its claims by way of the peace negotiations, 
the German Government has no intention of opposing 
it, a little hint which definitely alines Denmark with 
the Allied group. He then takes up the status of the 
Saar Basin, which, he says, is inhabited purely by 
Germans, and declares that the new regime will sever 
the relations of people of the Saar with the empire. 
The whole population is refusing energetically to leave 
its native land. He fears that after Germany has 
made reparations to the Allies it may not have the 
money necessary in gold after fifteen years to buy the 
mines from France, and if it does, the committee on 
reparations probably will not permit the use of the 
money in this manner. He remarks that Allied opin- 
ion regards the cession of the Saar mines as just com- 



330 THE ADVENTUEES OF 

pensation for the destruction of the coal-mines in north- 
ern France. He believes that means of indemnifica- 
tion can be found other than giving up sovereignty over 
this territory. Germany will be ready to deliver coal 
to make up what France lacks, and to enter into an ar- 
rangement to study this problem and satisfy the needs 
of France either from the mines of the Saar or the 
Ruhr. In an annex appended to the note of May 16 
the German economic experts suggest that in treating 
the question of the Saar on a new basis France and 
Belgium designate how much and what different kinds 
of coal are needed in the various regions, and propose 
that enterprises damaged in the north of France be 
given an interest in German coal-mines that deliver this 
coal. They declare that the measures for regulating 
the Saar territory suppress the liberty of Germany^s 
economic life and paralyze the productive capacity of 
Germany. They propose in their place a series of 
guaranties for the delivery of the coal, including giv- 
ing French enterprises an interest and an essential in- 
fluence in the administration of the German enter- 
prises, and providing for a commission composed of 
representatives of France, Germany, and Belgium to 
ration the delivery of coal between the three countries if 
this is found necessary. 

The reply of May 24 is signed by M. Clemenceau. 
He says that the domination of the Saar that the 
Germans call odious is that of the League of Nations, 
and that the plan of control has been developed care- 
fully with the idea not only of finding compensation 
for the mines destroyed in the north of France, but 



THE rOUETEElSI" POINTS 331 

of assuring the rights and well being of the population. 
Special rights and privileges are assured the inhab- 
itants, he says, and at the end of fifteen years they will 
have the right to make their choice in complete liberty, 
coerced neither to the advantage of France nor of Ger- 
many. He adds : 

As the greater part of your two notes is devoted to the status 
of the basin of the Saar, I must declare that the allied and asso- 
ciated governments have chosen this particular form of reparation 
because they regard the destruction of the mines in the north of 
France as having been an act of such a nature that special repara- 
tion was needed as an example: the simple delivery of a quantity 
of coal, determined or undetermined, was not considered adequate. 

The conference, he continues, cannot accept the sug- 
gestions for the regulation of the mines. 'No arrange- 
ment of this character can give France the same se- 
curity and certitude as when she owns the mines and 
is free to exploit them. To give French owners an in- 
terest in German mines would be of doubtful value to 
them and would create a confusion of interests. The 
complete and immediate transfer of the mines to France 
constitutes the quickest solution, solving at once the 
question of compensation for the mines destroyed ; this 
solution also has the advantage of making the use of 
the mines help apply on the bill for reparations. 

" Strategic reasons," said the secret agreement with 
Eussia, in which France asserted her wish to regulate 
the Saar basin. 

" Reparation for damages sustained in the mines of 
the north," says Clemenceau. 

It will be remembered that originally President Wil- 
son opposed the outright annexation of the Saar basin 



332 THE ADVEN^TUKES OF 

by France, and that because of bis opposition the League 
of Nations was made the administrator for that terri- 
tory. The President and the American mission had 
also opposed the trial of the kaiser, a view that was 
carefully elucidated by Secretary Lansing, who declared 
that war was legal, and that laws did not exist bringing 
into court a ruler who made war; that it was for his 
own people to place him on trial, and not his enemies. 
It was largely through the influence of the American 
members of the Peace Conference that this body agreed 
that the kaiser could be indicted only on moral grounds. 
President Wilson, on the advice of his financial experts, 
had also been against the policy of demanding from 
Germany a sum in reparation so large that Germany 
palpably could not pay, or of making the amount to be 
paid indefinite. The American estimate of the total 
amount available in Germany for reparation was 
$25,000,000,000, but France would not hear of it, as 
it materially reduced the amount which France ex- 
pected to get from Germany. International bankers, 
however, sought to have a definite amount fixed in order 
that they might know just what Germany would pay, 
and thereby gage the amount of loans to be made to the 
various nations. When America first insisted on nam- 
ing this sum, Mr. Lloyd George as well as M. Clemen- 
ceau opposed the idea, the British prime minister assert- 
ing that he had promised his countrymen that Germany 
should pay all damages down to the last farthing. Thus 
the promises of political leaders to their nations stood 
in the way of a sensible adjustment of a difficult situa- 
tion. The German delegates were of course well in- 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 333 

formed on this subject. They made all these points 
that had puzzled the conference leaders the object of 
attacks. 

The time for filing objections to the treaty expired 
May 21, but was extended until May 29 at the request 
of Germany. When the final day came, it was felt in 
Paris that the German cause had been handled unsuc- 
cessfully. Count von Brockdorff-Rantzau had sent a 
large number of notes and had filled 443 printed pages 
with protests, but had made no conciliatory impression. 
The Germans then presented their formal counter- 
proposals. Between the time of this presentation and 
the allied reply on June 16 a change of view appeared 
to take place in Allied circles, and it was freely reported 
that concessions were about to be made. Any one who 
had watched the situation develop, had followed the 
course of events in Germany, where the tension was 
growing and the agitation against eventually signing 
the treaty appeared to bei making headway, and was 
aware of the jealousy with which France guarded the 
terms of the treaty as it stood, obtained after an ex- 
traordinary amount of pressure, could well understand 
how France now became perturbed at the idea that the 
United States and Great Britain might wish to make 
concessions to the Germans. But it was not so much the 
American attitude which France feared, but that of 
Mr. Lloyd George, who was supposed to favor these 
concessions. Mr. Lloyd George had stood with France 
in drawing up the treaty, and his defection now might 
be disastrous to the claims of France. 

It was reported in British circles at this time that 



334 THE ADVENTURES OF 

pressure was being brought on Mr. Lloyd George to 
effect modifications of the treaty of peace to the advan- 
tage of the Germans, and that this pressure came from 
three sources: first, from the liberal groups and labor 
leaders in Great Britain, which declared the terms to 
be too severe; secondly, from financial circles, which 
wanted the amount to be paid by the Germans named 
in figures instead of an indefinite declaration; and, 
thirdly, from persons of influence who felt that Germany 
might not sign unless concessions were made, and who 
desired her signature even at the expense of concessions. 
These reports were brought to the attention of the prime 
minister by an interpellation in the House of Commons^ 
so that Mr. Lloyd George felt impelled to issue a state- 
ment denying that pressure had been brought upon him 
from any source whatever. It remains true, neverthe- 
less, that sentiment along the lines indicated was ex- 
pressed in Great Britain, although no direct effort may 
have been made to influence the action of the prime 
minister. 

The comment of the Labor party on the treaty is 
worth quoting. The views of the labor group were first 
expressed by Arthur Henderson, but as they represented 
largely his personal opinion, and had been prepared 
without consulting the labor leaders in Parliament, they 
were not regarded as necessarily representative of the 
Labor party as a whole. A new set of views were issued 
in the name of the Parliamentary Labor party and of 
the national executive of the Labor Party, these having 
been drawn up at a conference at the House of Commons, 
where Adamson, the parliamentary leader, was in the 



THE rOUETEEN POINTS 335 

chair and Henderson was present. Eamsay MacDonald 
was at that time in Bern. The announcement in sub- 
stance emphasized the following arguments : 

The treaty is defective fundamentally in that it accepts and is 
based upon the very political principles which were the ultimate 
cause of the war. It violates the understanding upon which the 
armistice is signed . . . and is therefore a repudiation of the spirit 
and letter of the declaration of President Wilson, Mr. Lloyd 
George and other allied statesmen. . . . [On the question of repa- 
ration the Labor party insisted that] Germany must make full 
reparation for the wanton destruction in all the allied countries, 
and we must consider that the payment by Germany of the sum of 
5,000,000,000 pounds sterling is not excessive in view of the dam- 
age done. . . . 

The draft treaty cedes to France full ownership of the coal 
mines in the Saar basin. The terms of the armistice never so much 
as hinted at such a possibility. France should undoubtedly receive 
from Germany a sufficient supply of coal to compensate her for the 
temporary loss of her own mining resources. This claim can be 
met without handing over the population of the Saar districts even 
to a neutral administration. The provision in the treaty requiring 
the German Government at the end of fifteen years to buy out at 
valuation the mines in any part of the Saar valley which may be 
restored to Germany as the result of a plebiscite, would involve 
the violation of the principles of self-determination, equivalent to 
disguised annexation. 

The statement declares that in the delimitation of 
the frontiers of Poland there is a contravention of the 
thirteenth point that the new Polish state should con- 
tain only genuinely Polish elements. It feels that the 
military occupation of the left bank of the Rhine for 
fifteen years will impose fresh burdens of building 
armament and compulsory military service on the peo- 
ple and that '^ it will be impossible to take full advan- 
tage of the enforced disarmament of Germany in order 
to secure general disarmament and demilitarization." 
On the league the party says: 



336 THE ADYENTUKES OF 

The League of Nations, to be effective, should be an organ of 
international justice, inclusive of all free peoples, and not as it 
will be under the peace treaty, a restricted instrument of the vic- 
torious coalition. This central aim can best be attained by the 
admission of Germany to the League as speedily as possible after 
her signature to the peace treaty. The League should also be 
strengthened by being made more directly representative of 
peoples and parliaments. 

I am giving this resume of the protest of the Labor 
party because the attitude of this group may be of im- 
portance in the future development of English politics 
and of England's attitude toward the treaty in times 
to come. A most drastic condemnation of the treaty 
of peace came also from the central organ of the workers 
in Paris, the Confederation Generale du Travail; but 
as France is largely an agricultural country and the 
labor group is but thirteen per cent, of the whole, its 
influence is not comparable to that of the labor elements 
in England. The Confederation saw in the treaty the 
definite negation of the right of peoples to dispose of 
themselves, disguised annexations of territory, a return 
to the old system of alliances and imperialisms, the im- 
possibility of general disarmament, the lack of an inter- 
national financial and economic organization, and the 
continuation of economic war. 

The final German counter-proposals and the Allied 
reply make clear the issues, and deserve to be studied in 
connection with the treaty of peace itself. The reply 
of the Allies especially is an able and clarifying docu- 
ment, which does what the treaty could not well do — 
present specific arguments to clear up each point in the 
treaty that the Germans have contested. The German 
counter-proposals may be reviewed here but briefly. 



THE rOUETEEISr POINTS 337 

Germany declared that the treaty violates the Fourteen 
Points. Germany seeks to enter the League of Nations 
on an equal footing with the Allies as soon as peace is 
signed. Germany agrees to the basic idea of the naval, 
military, and air regulations and the abolition of com- 
pulsory military service, provided that this is the be- 
ginning of a general reduction of armaments and the 
abolition of compulsory military service everywhere. 
Germany will dismantle her fortresses in the west, but 
declares this may be done only under the supervision 
of the league. The cession of upper Silesia and the 
Saar district " cannot be demanded at all,'' and in 
case Germany is to acquiesce in the cession of any ter- 
ritory, a plebiscite must precede it. The Saar scheme 
must be reconsidered, and a supply of coal to France 
is offered in exchange. Malmedy, Eupen, and Mores- 
net are described as purely German districts. Germany 
asks a plebiscite for Alsace and Lorraine. Germany 
cannot pledge herself to oppose the desire of Austria 
to unite with her. Germany objects to the cession of 
large districts to Poland on the ground that they are 
not indisputably Polish, citing the province of Posen 
as an example. Germany wishes to keep a " bridge " 
of purely German territory to East Prussia. Germany 
is ready to make Dantzic, Memel, and Konigsberg ^^ free 
ports," in order to give Poland access to the sea, but 
cannot cede Dantzic, which must remain within the 
German Empire. Germany agrees to a plebiscite in 
these districts, but suggests a different system of voting. 
She objects to the loss of her colonies and suggests an 
impartial hearing before a special committee. Ger- 



338 THE ADVENTURES OE 

many agrees to the renunciation of all rights in Shan- 
tung. She agrees to pay as reparation $25,000,000,000, 
of which amount $5,000,000,000 is to be paid before 
May 1, 1926. She will pay the damage to civil popu- 
lations in the occupied parts of Belgium and Erance. 
She refuses to pay reparation for damages in the occu- 
pied areas in Italy, Montenegro, Serbia, Rumania, and 
Poland. Germany opposes the wide powers of the 
reparations commission, and suggests a German com- 
mission to cooperate with the Allied body. Germany, 
" if her situation permits," will export to Erance coal 
equal to the loss in production caused by the destruction 
of the Erench mines, the maximum to be 20,000,000 
tons for the first five years, and 5,000,000 tons an- 
nually thereafter. Germany also protests against con- 
trol of German river systems by international commis- 
sions, and makes suggestions for other methods. She 
does not recognize the justification for the trial of the 
kaiser and the competence of the proposed tribunal. 
She asks that her territory be evacuated by the Allies 
within six months of the signing of peace. With regard 
to labor it is set forth that German workers can agree 
only to a peace which embodies the immediate aims of 
the international labor movement, and Germany " once 
more proposes the summoning of a conference of labor 
organizations to discuss the Allies' proposals, the Ger- 
man counter-proposals, and the Bern resolutions of Eeb- 
ruary, the result to be embodied in the treaty of peace, 
and to attain thereby the force of international law." 

The reply of the Peace Conference was handed to 
the Germans on June 16. It was to be the final nego- 



THE FOUETEEE" POINTS 339 

tiation with the Germans. The German nation had 
five days in which to reply whether or not it would sign 
the treaty of peace, a plain " Yes " or '^ N^o." As the 
time was complained of as too short, forty-eight hours 
were added. This caused the time limit to expire on 
Monday, June 23. If Germany did not sign at that 
time, the Allied troops would move into Germany and 
prepare to carry out the treaty by force of arms. 

I have already referred to the exhaustive nature of the 
reply. As this is over 20,000 words long, or about one 
fourth the size of the treaty, it can be quoted here only 
briefly. Its most important statement was probably 
the declaration that the treaty was based fairly and 
squarely upon the Fourteen Points, together with the 
reservations of ISTovember 5, 1918, and the other prin- 
ciples of President Wilson of September 27, 1918. 
The whole Allied case was put succinctly before the 
German delegates, and incidentally before the German 
nation, so that any German student of the war who 
had not been confronted by the Allied side of the con- 
flict here found the definite charges against the Ger- 
man Imperial Government on which the Allied and 
Associated powers fought the war. The reply cited 
Germany's armaments, her system of espionage in for- 
eign and friendly lands, her attempts to breed trouble 
in neighboring countries, her encouragement of a sub- 
servient ally to make war on Serbia, her rejection of 
every attempt at conciliation and conference, the viola- 
tion of Belgium's neutrality, the policy of frightfulness, 
the introduction of poisonous gases, the bombarding of 
cities without a military object, the destruction of life 



340 THE ADVENTURES OF 

and property by submarines, the forcing of populations 
into slavery, and the wanton destruction of mines and 
industries to damage a competitor. As a result, says 
the reply, 7,000,000 men have been killed and 2,000,000 
bear the scars of their wounds, and an indebtedness of 
$150,000,000,000 has been settled on the nations. The 
responsibility of the people of Germany is not shed with 
the revolution. " They cannot now pretend, having 
changed their rulers after the war was lost, that it is 
justice that they should escape the consequences of their 
deeds." 

The conference points out that it does not wish to 
exclude Germany from the League of Nations, but that 
when a state has given proofs of its stability and its 
intention to observe its international engagements, its 
candidacy will be supported. Germany's case demands 
a definite test, but the Allied governments see no rea- 
son why Germany should not become a member of the 
league in the near future. On the subject of Alsace 
and Lorraine the conference does not see the need of a 
plebiscite, for Germany has agreed to the evacuation 
of these provinces in signing the armistice, and the in- 
habitants have not asked for a plebiscite. France shall 
not pay for German state property there or take over 
that part of the German debt properly allotted to these 
provinces, for the reason that Germany in 1871 refused 
to pay for the French state property or to take over the 
French debt. The subject of Polish boundaries is gone 
into in great detail. The conference sets forth that 
Dantzic was annexed to Prussia against the will of the 
inhabitants. The population is predominantly Ger- 



THE FOURTEEN POINTS 341 

man, and for this reason is not made a part of the Polish 
state. When Dantzic was a Hansa city it lay outside 
German political boundaries and " in union with Po- 
land enjoyed a large measure of local independence and 
great commercial prosperity." Poland shall not be 
compelled to have the way of communication between it 
and the port of Dantzic in foreign control. In Helgo- 
land the fishing harbor will not be disturbed; only the 
naval harbor will be destroyed, nor will the Allies de- 
stroy works that protect the island against sea erosion. 
A plebiscite is offered for Upper Silesia. The plebis- 
cite in Schleswig is to be held at the request of the 
Danish Government, and also at this Government's re- 
quest a modification has been made in the extent of the 
territory where the plebiscite is to be held. The Ger- 
man claims affecting the colonies are rejected. The 
conference grants more moderate terms affecting the 
reduction of the army. The maximum size is to be 
200,000 men at the end of three months; every three 
months thereafter the Allied military experts will de- 
termine the strength of the German Army for the next 
period, in order to reduce the army to the 100,000 called 
for by the end of March, 1920. The conference wel- 
comes the German proposal to create a German commis- 
sion of reparation to cooperate with the allied commis- 
sion. Germany is invited to submit special reparation 
proposals within four months, and the Allies will reply 
within two months thereafter. 

The conviction of the Allied and Associated powers 
that Germany forced the war on Europe in order to 
solve the European question is emphasized. The whole 



342 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

German case is reviewed and disposed of. With re- 
gard to penalties, the conference repeats that it consid- 
ers the war as a deliberate crime, and that punishment 
of those responsible ^' for the crimes and inhuman acts 
committed in connection with a war of aggression is 
inseparable from the establishment of that reign of law 
among nations which it was the agreed object of the 
peace to set up." The tribunal will represent the de- 
liberate judgment of the greater part of the civilized 
world. The powers are ready to stand by the verdict 
of history as to the impartiality and justice with which 
the accused will be tried. " The arraignment framed 
against the kaiser has not a juridical character as re- 
gards its substance, but only in its form. The ex- 
emperor is arraigned as a matter of high international 
policy as the minimum of what is demanded for a su- 
preme offence against international morality, the sanc- 
tity of treaties and the essential rules of justice. The 
allied and associated powers have desired that judicial 
forms, a judicial procedure, and a regularly constituted 
tribunal should be set up in order to assure to the ac- 
cused full rights and liberties in regard to his defense, 
and in order that the judgruent should be of the most 
solemn judicial character.'' 

Most pertinent is the comment of the conference on 
the subject of guaranties. It reads : 

The German delegation observe in their remarks on the condi- 
tions of peace: "Only a return to the immutable principles of 
morality and civilization, to a belief in the sanctity of treaties and 
engagements would render it possible for mankind to continue to 
exist.'* 

After four and a half years of war which was caused by the 



THE FOUETEEN POINTS 343 

repudiation of these principles by Germany, the allied and associ- 
ated powers can only repeat the words pronounced by President 
Wilson on September 27, 1918: "The reason why peace must be 
guaranteed is that there will be parties to the peace whose prom- 
ises have proved untrustworthy." 

Count von Brockdorff-Rantzau let it be known that 
he would never sign the treaty of peace. The other 
plenipotentiaries seemed to be of the same mind. The 
count is on record as saying : 

A peace treaty such as was handed to me on May 7 I shall never 
sign. Small concessions I do not look upon as essential changes. 
We will sign neither our own death sentence nor a deprivation of 
our rights or our honor. Our national self-esteem will never per- 
mit us to abandon the German nation and its country for the sake 
of the material advantages of our enemies. On that point we are 
all agreed, both the delegation in Versailles and the government 
in Berlin. Nobody will retreat. What will happen if our enemies 
do not show any comprehension of our attitude I do not know. 
But one thing is certain: the decision will be taken by the delega- 
tion and the government unanimously, and the German nation will 
stand behind them. 

As for the great powers, they were confident that 
Germany would sign. Mr. Lloyd George expressed the 
determination of the Allied and Associated representa- 
tives in an address delivered before the 38th British Di- 
vision near Amiens, in which he said : 

These terms are written in the blood of fallen heroes. The 
Germans have been reckoning on this job for years, even working 
out the number of spikes per yard of barbed wire. We never 
dreamt of being in a position like this. In order to make it impos- 
sible to occur again we have had to make these terms severe. We 
must carry out the edict of Providence and see that the people 
who inflicted this shall never be in a position to do so again. The 
Germans say they will not sign. Their newspapers say they will 
not sign. The politicians say the same and we know that all poli- 
ticians speak the truth. We say : " Gentlemen, you must sign. 
If you don't do so in Versailles, you shall do so in Berlin." 



344 THE FOUETEEN POINTS 

And Germany agreed to sign, agreed after the mili- 
tary party had exhausted every effort to prevent the 
signature of a treaty that threatened the liberty of the 
leaders of the former German Government, its army, 
and navy; after they had intimidated the national as- 
sembly and brought about a cabinet crisis; after the 
Junker elements had threatened reprisals; after the 
principal members of the delegation at Versailles had 
withdrawn and the time limit was about to expire — 
Germany, through her national assembly, agreed to sign 
and to ratify the terms of peace. And as signatories 
she finally prevailed upon two men of more or less 
obscure names, Hermann Miiller and Johann Bell, min- 
isters in the cabinet, to perform the final act of submis- 
sion to the will of the victorious powers. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

The story of the twenty-eighth of June, and how Germany found 
peace at the end of a long, long road in Versailles. 

MuLLEE and Bell, the two German plenipotentiaries, 
arrived late on the evening of June 27. Their train 
had been seriously delayed in passing through the Ger- 
man occupied territory, and it was not until 11:20 
o'clock that it pulled into the station at Saint Cyr, 
where Colonel Henry, chief of the French military 
mission, and his staff were awaiting them. Present 
were also two members of the German delegation, Ha- 
niel and Hunker. It must have been a long and tire- 
some journey for the two plenipotentiaries who had 
come to perform the final act in Germany's submission, 
and who in their journey from Berlin had passed from 
the fertile, well-cared-for fields of Germany to the bleak, 
devastated regions of France, laid waste as a result of 
Germany's disastrous aggression. 

Haniel presented the two delegates to Colonel Henry, 
and the men saluted one another without speaking. 
Colonel Henry then said in French: 

^' Messieurs, will you follow me ? " 

" Willingly," replied the Germans. They entered an 

automobile with Colonel Henry, and were driven to 

Versailles and the Hotel des Reservoirs. In addition 

to the plenipotentiaries there were fourteen men in the 

345 



346 THE ADVENTUEES OF 

German party, including Surrier, counselor of state, 
and Kreis, secretary of the embassy, as well as secre- 
taries and interpreters. 

Versailles was sleeping when the Germans arrived. 
A few German correspondents and members of the dele- 
gation awaited the two men, but scarcely any curious 
faces were to be seen. No one would have guessed that 
on the morrow Versailles would be the scene of one of 
the great events in the history of France; would know 
a day more glorious than any in its regal and revolu- 
tionary history unless it be the day of the oath in the 
tennis-court, the scene of which lay only a few minutes^ 
walk from the spot where the Germans had made their 
headquarters. 

A glorious day it was to be, this great day of Ver- 
sailles, but a day in which the joy of victory was to 
be tempered by the austerity and dignity which the 
memory of the brave dead who had died in the war 
demanded. At least that was the thought in the mind 
of the mayor of Versailles, M. Henri Simon, when he 
addressed his proclamation to the inhabitants of this 
historic town — a proclamation the Germans might have 
read on the walls had they been at liberty to walk about 
that evening. Surely it should have a place in this 
story of Versailles: 

The great day of Versailles has come. The victorious peace 
will be signed in the Hall of Mirrors Saturday, June 2S. The 
government wishes the ceremony to have the character of austerity 
that goes with the memory of the grief and sufferings of the patrie. 
Nevertheless, public buildings will be decorated and illuminated. 
The inhabitants certainly will follow this example. 

All measures to preserve order have been taken by the govern- 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 347 

ment; the public is asked to conform to them for the successful 
outcome of the ceremony. 

Inhabitants and visitors should observe the calm and the dignity 
which goes with this great event, and from which the city of Ver- 
sailles has not departed in five years, for the incidents of June 16 
can not be blamed on the local population. 

The day of June 28 will come about as should such a great day 
in the history of the world. 

Upon their arrival the delegates, Miiller and Bell, 
gave their credentials to Colonel Henry, who trans- 
mitted them to M. Jules Cambon, chairman of the com- 
mittee on verification. Of the two men an official note 
published in Berlin said : 

The ministers of the Reich, Hermann Miiller and Dr. Bell, upon 
the unanimous request of the government, have decided to sign the 
treaty of peace as plenipotentiaries at Versailles. Under the ter- 
rible impression of popular misery and the pressing need to obtain 
peace at last, they believe that nothing should stop them from 
making this last personal sacrifice. 

When June 28 came, Versailles recalled other events 
that had fallen on this day. It was the fifth anniver- 
sary of the assassination of the Austrian archduke at 
Serajevo. A Paris newspaper remembered that on 
June 28, 1870, the candidacy of Prince Leopold of 
Hohenzollern had entered its final phase, for on that 
day the Spanish deputy Salazar arrived at Madrid with 
a letter from the prince accepting the Spanish crown 
with the secret approval of William of Prussia. Eight 
days later the news became public. " The bomb has 
exploded," wrote William I. All France was in a tur- 
moil of excitement. On July 12 the crisis appeared 
to be past. On July 13 Bismarck made public at Ems 
the mutilated despatch, and war became certain. 



348 THE ADVEI^TUEES OF 

But I doubt whether Serajevo or Ems were in the 
minds of the crowd at Versailles when the great day 
came. It was January 18, 1871, and the proclamation 
of the German Empire that Versailles thought of oftener 
than anything else on this historic day. The labors 
of the Peace Conference had attracted Paris but super- 
ficially. The crowds had become familiar with the 
sight of presidents and kings and queens. Plenary ses- 
sions created hardly a ripple of interest. But the sign- 
ing of the peace, the signing by Germany of the peace 
dictated by France, that is what awakened the crowd 
of Paris to a realization of the greatness of the day. 

By noon a stream of automobiles coming from all 
directions centered on the road to Versailles over which 
once rolled the state carriages of Louis XIV. To ex- 
pedite matters, the authorities had ^' canalized " traffic. 
Official cars followed the ancient route via Suresnes, 
Ville d'Avray, and Picardie. At the corner of the 
Avenue de Picardie and the Boulevard de la Reine all 
motor-cars bearing a tricolor cockade, or a yellow-and- 
green cockade, continued down the avenue, whereas 
others were directed down the boulevard. At the corner 
of the Avenue de St.-Cloud and of the Rue St.-Pierre 
the cars carrying the tricolor were directed to proceed 
along the Rue St.-Pierre to the Avenue de Paris and the 
palace. The others were directed to the, Rue des Reser- 
voirs. A double line of troops was drawn up in the 
streets leading to the palace. General Brecard, com- 
mander of the 6th Division of Cavalry, took position 
with his staff before the beautiful grill of wrought iron 
before the palace grounds at the Place d'Armes. Five 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 349 

wide avenues lead to this place; all were lined with the 
troops in horizon blue, and by noon the avenues, the 
Place d'Armes, and the palace courtyard were a maze of 
troops in colorful uniforms, a touch of heightened color 
being added by the cavalry within the courtyard, who 
carried fluttering pennons of red and white, while far- 
ther in the foreground were massed the Garde Eepub- 
licaine, brilliant in white breeches, red shakos, shining, 
burnished helmets, and white cross-belts. Banners, 
flags, and bunting flew gaily from the windows, roofs, 
and balconies on the hither side of the iron grills, but 
beyond it lay the palace buildings in somber stateliness, 
displaying only one bit of decoration, the tricolor of 
France suspended above the little balcony at the head 
of the cour d'honneur, on which Louis XVI, Marie An- 
toinette, and the Dauphin appeared on October 6, 1789, 
the day when the insatiate mob of Paris camped in the 
marble court, only a short time before the Bourbons left 
the palace forever. For the government had decreed 
that this flag was to be the only decoration displayed 
on the palace itself, in order that it might be in keeping 
with '' le calme et la dignite " of the occasion. 

Few of the great men of the conference were recog- 
nized by the crowd as they rolled down the Avenue de 
Paris in their motor-cars between rows of steel-helmeted 
Poilus in horizon blue. Most of them, however, had 
closed cars and limousines, and they passed so quickly 
that the crowd could give them no greeting. But there 
was no mistaking M. Clemenceau, and the crowd bel- 
lowed out a shout that must have been a welcome sound 
even to one so thoroughly accustomed to acclamations. 



350 THE ADVENTURES OF 

At 1 :45 o'clock the first automobile entered the forecourt 
and drove up to the entrance leading to the marble stair- 
case. A regular line of cars followed. General Guil- 
laumat was one of the first to arrive. There followed 
General Pershing, Admiral Lebon, Secretary Lansing, 
the Maharajah of Bikaner, the Marquis Saionyi and 
Baron Makino, General Dubail, Mile. Deroulede, sister 
of Paul Deroulede, General Maistre, M. Painleve, Louis 
Loucheur, and Athos Romanos. M. Clemenceau came 
with General Mordacq. A little later came General 
Maunoury, who had been blinded in the war, and who 
was guided by General Alby, chief of the general staff. 
Other notable guests included the Admiral Ronarch, 
M. Antoine Dubost, with the medal of 1870 on his 
breast ; M. Alexandre Millerand, high commissioner for 
Alsace and Lorraine; Paul Deschanel and Mme. Des- 
chanel; M. Leygues, minister of marine; Admiral 
Beatty and Ignace Paderewski. Mr. Lloyd George 
came at 2 :45 o'clock, and immediately after him came 
President and Mrs. Wilson. Both the prime minister 
and the President were vociferously applauded by the 
attendants and by-standers in the marble court as they 
left their motor-cars. 

Outside the walls of the palace the military predomi- 
nated; the brilliant uniforms and the long lines of the 
soldiers gave a feeling of precision to the event. But 
once inside the palace this feeling disappeared, and 
there was general relaxation, with an air of easy fa- 
miliarity. It was hard to conceive that this feeling 
could have existed in the days of the august Bourbon 
court; they had their play days, too, but austerity and 



THE FOUETEEJST POINTS 351 

formal conduct were the rule at the royal ceremonies, 
such as those of which traditions have come down to 
us. I^ow, however, upon entering the palace, delegates 
and invited guests found ready for them post-cards 
commemorating the ceremony, which could be mailed 
by means of a special peace-conference stamp, and there 
were few who did not avail themselves of the oppor- 
tunity. 

The greatest attention had been given to the staging 
of the culminating event in the Hall of Mirrors. It is 
a long and narrow room, more like a corridor than a 
salon. The delegates ascended the marble staircase and 
passed through what at one time were the apartments of 
Marie Antoinette to the Salon de la Paix, the Hall of 
Peace, whence they entered the Hall of Mirrors. At 
this end of the hall were the chairs for the invited 
guests. Then came tables for secretaries of certain 
delegations. Beyond that stood the long horseshoe table 
that ran along the mirrored side of the hall. At the 
middle of the table, facing the high embrasured win- 
dows, was the place for M. Clemenceau, president of 
the conference. To his left, in the direction of the 
Hall of Peace, were reserved places for the delegates 
of Great Britain, the British dominions, and Japan. 
Here the angle in the table was reached, and then came 
the places reserved for Germany. There followed the 
seats of Uruguay, Peru, Panama, Nicaragua, Liberia, 
Honduras, Brazil, Haiti, Guatemala, Bolivia, and 
Equador. At the right hand of the President sat the 
commissioners from the United States. Then came 
Erance, Italy and Belgium. Beyond the turn of the 



352 THE ADVENTURES OF 

table came the places of Greece, Poland, China, Cuba, 
Eumania, Hedjaz, Siam, Serbia, and Czecho-Slovakia. 
Behind this table were tables for secretaries, and be- 
hind them, extending toward the Hall of War, came 
seats for the representatives of the press of the world. 
Inside the horseshoe table were smaller tables for secre- 
taries, and a small one before the chairman's place was 
reserved for the interpreter. In the middle stood the 
table on which lay the treaty of peace and three other 
documents to be signed simultaneously with it; the 
protocol, to be signed also by all the delegates; the 
Ehine province agreement, to be signed by the five great 
powers and Germany; and the Polish treaty, to be 
signed by the five great powers, Poland, and Germany. 

On the day before the ceremony Herr von Haniel 
sent word to the Peace Conference that the German dele- 
gates had received no formal assurance that the docu- 
ment they were to sign in the Hall of Mirrors was iden- 
tical with the treaty handed them on June 19. M. 
Clemenceau immediately drafted a letter assuring them 
formally that the document was identical in all its parts, 
and this was carried to the Germans by M. Dutasta, 
general secretary of the conference. 

Singularly, the places reserved for the delegation from 
China were not to be occupied. This was the one rift 
in the lute, for the Chinese commissioners, in protest 
against the clauses of the treaty agreeing to the transfer 
of the German leaseholds to Japan, decided not to sign 
the treaty. A month before the Chinese plenipoten- 
tiaries had made a formal request of the Peace Confer- 
ence that the questions involved in the Shan-tung matter 



THE FOUKTEEN POINTS 353 

be not included in the treaty, but be postponed for fu- 
ture consideration. This request was denied. On the 
morning of June 28 M. Lou Tseng Tsiang, president 
of the Chinese delegation, asked that China be permitted 
to sign with the explanatory note, " Under the reserva- 
tion made at the plenary session of May 6, 1919, and 
relative to the question of Shan-tung (Articles 156, 157, 
and 158).^' He pointed out that the Swedish pleni- 
potentiary signed the act of the Congress of Vienna 
with a reservation. The request was not acceded to by 
the conference, and when the time for signature came, 
the Chinese did not respond. The attitude of the 
Chinese delegation in this matter was consistent with 
its point of view that Japan should have been asked 
by the Peace Conference to vacate Shan-tung and turn 
all German property over to China. 

There was to be only one official treaty of peace, 
printed on Japanese vellum, with a large margin and 
held together by red tape. This copy was to be 
placed in the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Af- 
fairs of France, and a copy given to all the governments 
concerned in its signing. In order to expedite the sign- 
ing, which at the best speed possible would take nearly 
an hour, the seals of the commissioners, which were con- 
sidered necessary, had been placed on the document 
before the signing. These were the personal seals of 
the signatories, for these men signed in person and not 
as officials of their governments. For this reason it 
was not considered proper for President Wilson to use 
the seal that had been selected for him, one bearing the 
American eagle and the words, '^ The President of the 



354 THE ADVEISTTURES OF 

United States of America." President Wilson there- 
upon substituted a seal from a ring given him at the 
time of his marriage bj the State of California, which 
bore his name in stenographic characters. Some of 
the commissioners did not possess personal seals, but 
obtained them before they were needed. 

When the time came for opening the historic session, 
the long hall was crowded with delegates, visitors, and 
newspaper representatives. The commissioners had put 
in almost an hour passing from table to table to seek 
autographs of men as notable as themselves. The guests 
bobbed up and down in their chairs, trying to observe 
the great men of the conference. A score of Gardes 
Municipaux circulated among the crowd for a very good 
reason: they were instructed to keep a watch on the 
pens and ink-wells in the hall, and to prevent these 
articles being pilfered by souvenir-hunters. 

At about 2:30 o'clock M. Clemenceau entered the 
room and looked about him to see that all arrangements 
were in perfect order. He observed a group of 
wounded, with their medals of valor on their breasts, 
in the embrasure of a window, and, walking up to them, 
engaged them in conversation. At 2 :45 o'clock he 
moved up to the middle table and took the seat of the 
presiding officer. It was a singular fact that he sat 
almost immediately under the ceiling decoration that 
bears the legend ^' Le roi gouveme par lui-meme/' in 
other words, almost on the exact spot where William I 
of Prussia stood when he was proclaimed German Em- 
peror in 1871. President Wilson entered almost im- 
mediately after M. Clemenceau and was saluted with 



THE FOUETEEI^ POINTS 355 

discreet applause. The German delegation entered by 
way of the Hall of Peace and slipped almost unnoticed 
into its seats at this end of the hall. It was led by 
Herr Miiller, a tall man with a scrubby little mustache, 
wearing black, with a short black tie over his white 
shirt front. The Germans bowed and seated them- 
selves. 

At 3:15 o'clock M. Clemenceau rose and announced 
briefly that the session was opened — " La seance est 
ouverte." He then spoke briefly in French as follows : 

An agreement has been reached upon the conditions of the treaty 
of peace between the allied and associated powers and the German 
empire. 

The text has been verified; the president of the conference has 
certified in writing that the text about to be signed conforms to 
the text of the 200 copies which have been sent to Messieurs the 
German delegates. 

The signatures about to be given constitute an irrevocable en- 
gagement to carry out loyally and faithfully in their entirety all 
the conditions that have been decided upon. 

I therefore have the honor of asking Messieurs the German 
plenipotentiaries to approach to affix their signatures to the treaty 
before me. 

M. Clemenceau ceased and sat down, and Herr 
Miiller rose as if to proceed to the table. He was in- 
terrupted, however, by Lieutenant Mantoux, official 
interpreter of the conference, who began to translate 
M. Clemenceau's words into German. In his first sen- 
tence, when Lieutenant Mantoux reached the words 
" the German empire," or, as M. Clemenceau had said 
in French : '' V empire allem-and/' he translated it ^' the 
German republic." M. Clemenceau promptly whis- 
pered, ^^ Say German Reich/' this being the term con- 
sistently used by the Germans. 



356 THE ADVENTURES OF 

M. Dutasta then led the way for five Germans — two 
plenipotentiaries and three secretaries — and they 
passed to the table, where two of them signed their 
names. Miiller came first, and then Bell, virtually 
unknown men, performing the final act of abasement 
and submission for the German people — an act to 
which they had been condemned by the arrogance and 
pride of Prussian Junkers, German militarists, im- 
perialists, and industrial barons, not one of whom was 
present when this great scene was enacted. 

The delegation from the United States was the first 
to be called up after the Germans. President Wilson 
rose, and as he began his walk to the historic table, fol- 
lowed in order by Secretary Lansing, Colonel House, 
General Bliss, and Mr. White, other delegates stretched 
out their hands to congratulate him. He came forward 
with a broad smile, and signed his name at the spot in- 
dicated by M. William Martin, director of the protocol. 
Mr. Lloyd George followed the American delegation, 
together with Mr. Balfour, Lord Milner, Mr. Bonar 
Law, and Mr. Barnes; and when these five men had 
signed, the delegates from the British dominions fol- 
lowed, a notable array of men representing the greatest 
power the world has ever seen. Then came the delega- 
tion of the French Republic, in order, Messieurs Clem- 
enceau, Pichon, Klotz, Tardieu, and Cambon, the pres- 
ident of the council signing his name without seating 
himself. Then came the delegations of Italy, Japan, 
and Belgium. At 3 :50 o'clock all signatures had been 
completed, and the president of the conference an- 
nounced : 



THE FOUETEEISr POINTS 357 

'^ Messieurs, all the signatures have been given. The 
signature of the conditions of peace between the Allied 
and Associated powers and the German Republic is an 
accomplished fact. The session is adjourned.'' 

The official protocol verifies the fact that M. Clemen-^ , 
ceau used the word " republic " in his final statement. 

Immediately afterward the great guns began to boom 
from the battery near the orangerie. The delegates 
rose and congratulated one another. The notables 
streamed out of the palace to join the crowd, which had 
begun shouting in wild enthusiasm with the first sound 
of the guns. The great fountains of the park were 
turned on, and the water marvels of Lenotre began to 
play in the mellow sunshine throughout one of the most 
impressive playgrounds of the world. 

The Germans were the first to leave the Hall of Mir- 
rors, passing out alone, and immediately taking their 
automobiles for the hotel. A short time later M. Clem- 
enceau invited President Wilson and Mr. Lloyd George 
to view the fountains with him. The moment that the 
three men appeared before the crowd a great wave of 
wildly cheering humanity rushed toward them. They 
locked arms, and preceded by a protecting guard of 
soldiers and attendants attempted to gain the terrace 
above the fountain of Latona, in order to look over the 
broad expanse of the tapis vert to the vista of canals 
and woods beyond. Even here the crowd pushed for- 
ward; men slapped them on the back in their exuber- 
ance, strangers shouted hoarse greetings into their ears, 
and it was a most fortunate and remarkable fact that 
they returned to the palace in safety. They then went 



358 THE ADVENTURES OF 

to the salon of the old senate, where they met Baron 
Sonnino and later Baron Makino, and indulged in the 
beverage of the conference — tea. 

After signing the treaty of peace the German pleni- 
potentiaries gave the following statement to the United 
Press : 

We have signed the treaty without any mental reservation. 
What we have signed we will carry out. The German people will 
compel those in power to hold to and conform to the clauses. But 
we believe that the entente in its own interest will consider it 
necessary to modify some articles when it becomes aware that the 
execution of these articles is impossible. 

We believe that the entente will not insist upon the delivery of 
the kaiser and upon that of the high officers. 

The central government has not aided any attack against Po- 
land. Germany will make every effort to prove that she is worthy 
of entering the League of Nations. 

Eor the rest of that day and night Versailles and 
Paris, throwing aside '' le calme et la dignite," gave 
themselves up to a delirium of joy, a revel that came as 
the logical reaction to five years of pent-up grief and 
suffering. 

That evening the President of the United States is- 
sued the following statement : 

As I look back over the eventful months I have spent in France 
my memory is not of conferences and hard work alone, but also of 
the innumerable acts of generosity and friendship which have 
made me feel how genuine the sentiments of France are toward 
the people of America, and how fortunate I have been to be the 
representative of our people in the midst of a nation which knows 
how to show its kindness with so much charm and such open mani- 
festations of what is in its heart. 

Deeply as I rejoice at the prospect of joining my own country- 
men again, I leave France with genuine regret. My deep sym- 
pathy for her people and belief in her future have confirmed my 
thoughts, enlarged by the privilege of association with her public 



THE rOUETEEN POINTS 359 

men, conscious of more than one affectionate friendship formed, 
and profoundly grateful for the unstinted hospitality and for the 
countless kindnesses which have made me feel welcome and at 
home. 

I take the liberty of bidding France Godspeed as well as good- 
bye, and of expressing once more my abiding interest and entire 
confidence in her future. 



CHAPTER XIX 

President Wilson leaves France with two treaties of peace, and the 
United States Senate gets the stage at last. 

And so it came about that Woodrow Wilson, the first 
President of the United States to set foot on European 
soil during his term of office, completed the momentous 
mission that had kept him for over six months in the 
capital of Erance, and embarked once more on the good 
ship George Washington, a pilgrim returning to his 
native land. 

Six hours after signing the treaty of peace, at 9 :45 
on the evening of June 28, President Wilson boarded 
a special train awaiting him at the Gare des Invalides 
for Brest. With him were Mrs. Wilson ; Miss Margaret 
Wilson; the American ambassador to France, Hugh 
Wallace; Admiral Grayson, and the following official 
representatives of the French republic: M. Pichon, 
minister of foreign affairs ; M. Legues, minister of ma- 
rine; and M. Tardieu, peace commissioner and high 
commissioner of the French Republic to the United 
States. 

President Wilson had come to France on one of the 

most difficult missions that ever confronted an American 

statesman. He was leaving for the United States now 

to urge the ratification of the document that he had just 

signed. On December 13, 1918, he had arrived in 

360 



THE FOUETEEIsr POINTS 361 

France, and save for ten days in tlie United States and 
fourteen days on the ocean lie had been continuously in 
Europe for over six months. In that period hardly 
a moment of liberty had been his. Every hour was 
crowded with the hardest kind of work ; day after day 
he was called on to make decisions that might commit 
his country to definite policies and dictate its attitude 
in international affairs for generations to come. When 
he was not in conference with other peace commission- 
ers and subsidiary bodies of the Peace Conference, he 
was consulting his experts, investigators, and advisers ; 
time and again he gave ear to unofficial delegations that 
came to plead their cause before him. There were 
formal bodies to address, and calls of state and courtesy 
to be made, and even on those few occasions when he 
enjoyed a drive over the boulevards of Paris his mind 
was busy. His was no eight-hour working day. 

The multitude that bade him God-speed at the Gare 
des Invalides was far different from the howling, de- 
lirious crowd that acclaimed him when first he came to 
France. But its '' Auvoir! " was no less sincere and 
heart-felt because it was quiet and orderly and spoken 
by a crowd that appraised the President at his true 
value. He had come to Europe the hope of all sorts 
and conditions of men. In France he had been a hero. 
In England he had aroused the enthusiasm of the con- 
servative, the advanced liberal, the radical, and the 
toiler in the ranks. In Italy he had been welcomed 
with garlands of roses. In Germany he had been her- 
alded as the liberator who would safeguard her from 
the wrath of the European nations she had outraged. 



362 THE ADVEISTTUKES OF 

'Now he was going home, and all Europe knew that he 
was neither demigod nor dealer in magic, but just an 
honest, straightforward American statesman who had 
faced a gigantic task without flinching and had per- 
formed a man's work in the world. 

The President might well have reflected on all this 
as his train moved quietly out of the suburbs of Paris 
that night. Travel is slow in Prance, and on the fol- 
lowing Sunday morning he was still on his way to the 
sea-coast, passing through the picturesque Breton coun- 
try that had seen the coming of the American host. 
Out of the windows of his car he might still see con- 
tingents of the army of democracy in olive drab. Here 
and there, as the train bowled through quaint hamlets 
and villages, the peasant folk held up their babes so 
that they might catch his greeting and speak of it in 
after years. 

At 11 :40 o'clock on Sunday morning his train 
reached Brest, and amid the strains of " The Star- 
Spangled Banner " and the booming of cannon the Pres- 
ident boarded the little gunboat that was to take him 
to the George Washington, lying with steam up in the 
roadstead. He was leaving the soil of Prance. Here 
was the end of a period, and history would speak of his 
sojourn as an event without precedent. What mo- 
mentous consequences were bound up in it? No one 
could foretell, least of all he. As he had said a few 
evenings before at the farewell reception given by the 
President of the Prench Republic to the members of 
the Peace Conference in the Elysee Palace, only a part 
of the great work was finished ; there remained another 



THE POUETEElSr POINTS 363 

part which had just been begun — to organize the world 
anew, to bring about a reign of justice between men, 
" a common conception of duties, a common conception 
of the rights of the men of all races and of all nations." 

And then the bank struck up " La Marseillaise," and 
standing on the deck of the gunboat with bared head. 
President Wilson remarked at its close to one of the 
Erench statesmen : 

" I hope there will be no more wars ; in any case, no 
great war." 

At 2 :15 o'clock the George Washington weighed an- 
chor, and, accompanied by the cruiser Chattanooga^ fly- 
ing the flag of Admiral Knapp ; the cruiser Oklahoma; 
the Erench cruiser. La Marseillaise; and three French 
destroyers, turned her bow toward the wide ocean. At 
Pierres Noires, the Land's End of France, the Erench 
escort gave the salute to the President of the United 
States for the last time. 

He turned his face resolutely to the west. He had 
gone to France holding firmly to the Fourteen Points 
and to the principles of humanity and justice that he 
had enunciated in his speeches. How had these prin- 
ciples fared ? 

There was the first point, '^ Open covenants, openly 
arrived at." The President's critics had applied that 
to this Peace Conference as well as to such as might fol- 
low. In Paris, the critics said, this had been a hollow 
mockery. There had been no open covenants, nor had 
they been arrived at openly. This was probably the 
most secret peace conference ever held, said Auguste 
Gauvain in the " Journal des Debats." And yet the 



364 THE ADVE:NrTUKES OF 

President of the United States had drawn up that state- 
ment of principle, and the other great powers had rati- 
fied it and adopted it as their own. 

My memory went back to the opening days of the 
conference, when we made our first fight for publicity. 
" Let everything be transacted in the light of day," 
we had said, and there will be no cry of betrayals after- 
ward. I remember how the proposal shocked the em- 
inent leaders of foreign chanceries, who had not been 
used to consulting the rabble when they embarked on 
matters of foreign diplomacy, who accounted to the 
people through staged, non-committal speeches in legis- 
lative chambers, who considered foreign affairs too in- 
tricate for the every-day toiler, save only when he was 
called upon to carry a gun. The British had been as 
frank as any of the European governments, but inher- 
ently they were not lovers of publicity for diplomatic 
affairs; in fact, they probably had more secret treaties 
to their credit than any other people on the globe. As 
for M. Clemenceau, the thought of publicity was heresy 
to him. Italy's censorship of the press had been so 
unreasonable and one-sided that no great love for open- 
ness might be expected there, and nothing was to be 
hoped for from Japan. President Wilson was tem- 
peramentally against publicity, and yet he believed in 
it implicitly in principle, and sought to apply it, and 
to a certain extent he probably considers that he has 
been accessible and communicative. It was to Presi- 
dent Wilson that the world had to turn for light, and 
he gained the concession of public plenary sessions of 



THE FOUKTEEN POmTS 365 

the Peace Conference. It was little enough, but it was 
something. 

The seal of silence weighed heavily upon the other 
members of the American mission, and it was difficult 
to get an opinion even on the time of day or the state 
of the weather, although I remember that one of our 
commissioners did commit himself irrevocably one day 
on the disadvantages of open plumbing. But the rule 
began to be broken now and then by the very men who 
had been so solicitous that it be kept, and for a very 
simple reason. It happened that the Peace Conference 
was not a love-feast, or a meeting of a group of men 
holding the same views, but a serious discussion by men 
of the most diverse views, who advocated many differ- 
ent aims. It soon came to the notice of many that to 
gain their point they must plead their cause before the 
world. Thus if things went badly for France in the 
Council of the Four, France was sure to put emphasis 
upon her demands and try to gain support for her point 
of view by advocating it in the newspapers. As for the 
minor states that did or did not win their claims before 
the various councils, commissions, and committees, their 
representatives spoke freely at any and all times, giv- 
ing chapter and verse, and citing tales out of school 
that cheered the heart of the correspondent. 

Moreover, though the five members of the American 
mission said little, there were numbers of men round 
about the Crillon who told the story of their work gladly. 
Heads of commissions and subcommissions, technical 
advisers and experts — all were anxious and ready to 



366 THE ADVENTUEES OF 

elucidate their point of view. ISText to this group was 
that great army of persons interested in particular 
causes, such as missionaries who took definite sides in 
native disputes, amateur diplomats who at one time or 
another wrote books on history and political science, 
academicians who talked about " the clash of vital 
interests " and ^^ the new order of things," and finally 
that large body of business and professional men who 
had been granted passports for no reason that any one 
ever discovered, and who were investigating everything 
from the wages paid to makers of pie-plates in Great 
Britain to the demand for ice-cream soda-fountains on 
the Riviera. 

In time the barriers dropped still farther, and Colo- 
nel House agreed to meet the correspondents daily at 6 
p. M., while the correspondents were able to keep a still 
better watch on the work the President was engaged in 
through regular conferences with Eay Stannard Baker, 
who consulted President Wilson every day in behalf of 
the press and who performed a really notable service 
for the Peace Conference and for the American people 
by the conscientious and intelligent manner in which he 
performed his duties. 

President Wilson is not at all monosyllabic or reti- 
cent in discussion. He speaks as freely as he writes 
and apparently without reservation, but newspaper men 
have learned that his discussion is apt to be more his- 
torical than contemporary; that he is more likely to 
comment on events of three weeks ago than on those in 
the mouth of the public to-day. But there was one 
occasion during the Peace Conference when the Presi- 



THE rOUKTEEJST POINTS 367 

dent spoke direct and to the point to the newspaper 
men on affairs of vital importance. That occurred on 
the day preceding the plenary session at which the first 
draft of the covenant of the League of Nations was read 
to the world. The President had just finished one of 
the hardest tasks of the conference. He had presided 
at the meetings of the commission that had drawn up 
the league for days on end and had worked mornings, 
afternoons, and late into the night in the preparation 
of this historic document. Because he opposed the 
views of France for the insertion of clauses meant to 
build up a central military authority, he was made the 
target for a bitter campaign of criticism in the French 
press. The league covenant had been on the rocks more 
than once, but the President finally had steered it safely 
into port. This was the regular morning conference 
with the journalists, but instead of Secretary Lansing, 
the President walked into the circle of the newspaper 
men at the Hotel de Crillon. He spoke for fully fifty- 
five minutes by the clock with hardly an interruption, 
and what he said covered the whole subject of the actual 
situation at the Peace Conference. He spoke freely 
about the attitude of this country and that, and dis- 
closed many details of the negotiations that had led up 
to the writing of the first draft of the covenant of the 
league. 

" But, gentlemen," said the President, " you under- 
stand, I am not to be quoted. Not even as ' the highest 
authority.' Every one knows who is meant by ^ the 
highest authority.' " 

The President was quoted, however, through an in- 



368 THE ADVENTURES OF 

advertence, for part of his talk, and as this part has 
been widely discussed since, I am violating no confi- 
dences by repeating it here. It was the statement 
that when the President came to examine the question 
of the freedom of the seas in relation to the League 
of Nations and future wars, it dawned on him, as he 
said, that the ^^ joke was on him " ; that there would be 
no neutrals to respect in case of war in the future, for 
the reason that under the league all nations would be 
either for or against the decision of the league, and 
as part of the league's action to enforce its decisions, 
the seas would be controlled by the powers of the 
league. 

When President Wilson came to France he found 
that just as he had made up his mind that the League 
of Nations must be formed, so each of the other nations 
had certain pet objects which they wanted the Peace 
Conference to adopt, and in several cases the prime 
ministers had made definite promises to their people to 
this end. Prime Minister Lloyd George, for instance, 
was firm against conscript armies. M. Clemenceau 
had made definite promises of reparation, and rather 
than raise more money by taxes, the French cabinet 
looked forward to having its bills paid by Germany. 
Signer Orlando and Baron Sonnino were pledged to get 
everything called for by the treaty of London, the treaty 
of St. Jean de Maurienne, and the most extreme claims 
to territory of the Italian nationalists. The Japanese 
were determined to get a confirmation of their Shan- 
tung arrangement with China, and a statement guaran- 
teeing racial equality in international relations. 



THE FOURTEEl^ POINTS 369 

It has been pointed out frequently that America 
played so important a role at the conference because 
we came with clean hands, pledged to nothing except 
justice and fair dealing. Nothing — except the league. 
That we wanted, that we must have, and there they had 
us. President Wilson was determined that the time 
for the league had come. Many other men held that 
vision in bygone ages, and labored at it sincerely and 
honestly until they went down in defeat before igno- 
rance, self-interest, and greed. The world had grown 
apace in one hundred years; there was to-day a fairly 
intelligent electorate where a century ago saw only a 
hope and a promise. Self-interest and greed remained, 
but it was likely that these would dictate the organiza- 
tion of the league. To get the league President Wilson 
determined that it must be inextricably bound up with 
the Treaty of Peace. That was his victory, but to win 
it he had to suffer casualties. 

I remember one morning hearing M. Pichon say 
quite distinctly that the league covenant would not be 
a part of the treaty of peace. I remember that M. Tar- 
dieu said the same thing in my presence four days later. 
I remember also that President Wilson said most de- 
cidedly that it would. I do not know whether President 
Wilson was compelled to give on one point to win an- 
other. It is certain that France gained extraordinary 
concessions elsewhere and then agreed to the league. I 
do think that without the league we might have had a 
better treaty of peace, but if it proves successful, it was 
worth the cost. There is this one great argument for 
the league? should it become a yital, working force, it 



370 THE ADVENTURES OF 

would be able eventually to undo all that is harmful and 
unjust in the treaty of peace. That, I believe, is the 
President's firm hope and conviction. 

Even if the idea of the league had not encumbered 
the negotiations. President Wilson would still have had 
to face those engagements entered into by the Allies 
before America appeared on the scene, and it must be 
recalled that there was nothing politically immoral in 
secret bargainings and secret pledges and transfer of 
strategic territory until President Wilson marshaled 
public opinion against this vicious practice. The Presi- 
dent faced cold, practical politics as it has been played 
from time immemorial. He came with a new code of 
rules, and the players permitted some of those rules to 
go into effect because they felt that he had the public 
opinion of the world with him ; but they ignored others 
of those rules because they were sure of their own posi- 
tion. President Wilson had an alternative. He could 
wash his hands of the whole matter, leave the Peace 
Conference, return to the United States, and recommend 
a separate peace. America would then have had the 
satisfaction of being true to its ideals, but the European 
powers and their Asiatic ally would have made peace 
according to the old code of bargaining, which meant a 
disregard of the interests of many of the little peoples 
who looked to the President of the United States for 
moral support and guidance ; a division of the German 
colonies among the victors; the political delivery of 
Shan-tung to Japan ; an isolated policy for the United 
States in the far East, by the terms of which the United 
States would either have to fight or subside, and the 



THE rOUETEEIsr POINTS 371 

failure of the League of Nations and the great hope 
for which it stood. 

President Wilson remained. He knew that one thing 
could not fail him — the future. 

France asked great sums of money in reparation for 
damages wrought by Germany. Erance had a right to 
those sums. Belgium asked great amounts to pay for 
damages done in Belgium. Belgium was morally en- 
titled to these amounts. England asked reparation, and 
England was definitely entitled to that reparation. Na- 
tions near and remote presented their claims: Prime 
Minister Hughes of Australia, as with the enthusiasm of 
youth, declared that he meant to get from Germany 
every penny spent in Australia directly or indirectly be- 
cause of the war: if a soldier had found it necessary to 
place a mortgage on his roof in order that his family 
might subsist while he went to war, that financial loss 
should be paid by Germany. And morally he, too, was 
right. 

Germany shall pay all that she is able to pay, said 
President Wilson in effect, but beyond her ability to 
pay we cannot go. And he asked that the amounts to 
be paid be stated in figures susceptible of payment. 

What an outcry arose throughout the Allied press be- 
cause the American President had stated a simple eco- 
nomic fact! And what exorbitant sums were named 
when his suggestion was acted upon ! There was '^ Le 
Matin," with its argument for 316,000,000,000 francs, 
amounting, at a normal rate of exchange, to virtually 
$63,200,000,000. And this is the manner in which it 
was presented : 



\ 
3Y2 THE ADYENTUKES OF 

President Wilson has given his formal adherence to the principle 
that reparation must be made by Germany for all the damage 
caused the population of France and its property. This damage 
reaches 316,000,000,000 francs, or interest of 19,000,000,000 francs 
a year. 

The whole American people is behind its president. The whole 
American people demands that Germany recognize this debt to- 
ward the French people for all the damages caused by a war 
which Germany wished and declared. 

No American will admit that France pays all or part of 19,000,- 
000,000 annually of the debt contracted by Germany. 

When the French Government learned that Germany 
could not pay, it refused to name a specific sum, but 
demanded that reparations be fixed from time to time, 
a scheme full of danger to the peace of the world. The 
President had agreed, as announced by Secretary Lan- 
sing in his letter of November 4, 1918, that restoration 
by Germany of the invaded territory was understood to 
mean compensation for all damages caused the civil 
population and their property by German aggression 
either by land, sea, or air; but he did not agree that 
this should include pensions to be paid by the French 
state or the expenses of the war of the French Govern- 
ment. And these demands on the part of France he 
fought to the best of his ability until he was compelled 
to depart from his stand at last and sadly agree to a 
compromise. 

When President Wilson came to Europe he had one 
interpretation for the Fourteen Points ; Europe had an- 
other. For the most part the President's interpretation 
was accepted, but he was not always able to force his 
point of view. At other times, when his view prevailed, 
there were those elements among our associates in the 



THE FOUKTEEISr POmTS 373 

war who declared that he had not been true to his prin- 
ciples. 

Italy declared that the President's stand making 
Eiume a free port was contrary to the spirit of point 
nine, which spoke of a readjustment of the frontiers of 
Italy according to clearly recognizable lines of nation- 
ality. Fiume was Italian; so why should it not be 
under Italian sovereignty ? Why should the President 
favor the Croats, who had fought against Italy, or the 
Serbs, who for the most part were poverty-stricken 
peasants ? But Italy did not offer to yield up the thou- 
sands of pure German-Austrians of the Tyrol and the 
Voralberg. Broadness of vision, too, was not in the 
European scheme of things. 

Poland accused the President of giving only half a 
loaf when he declared that Poland might use, but not 
own, Dantzic. Point thirteen said that Poland should 
have a free and secure access to the sea. The President 
refused to give Poland sovereignty over Dantzic, because 
Dantzic is as German as Hamburg. Poland said the 
President had disregarded her legitimate historical 
claims. If historical claims were a basis for possession. 
Great Britain, France, and Mexico would to-day own 
the United States ; Sweden would own Pomerania ; Italy 
would own La Savoie; and no one can tell whether 
Prance, Austria, Spain, or the Netherlands would own 
Belgium. 

As for carrying out point eleven, calling for the eco- 
nomic independence and territorial integrity of the Bal- 
kan States, there were as many views on what should be 



374 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

done as there were nations at the conference, and each 
view was backed by a mass of statistics and sworn data. 
Even the President's advisers disagreed among them- 
selves, and when one group declared that northern 
Epirus or southern Albania was Greek, another group 
was just as certain that it was Albanian ; when one ex- 
pert found that Thrace was Greek, with a sprinkling of 
Bulgar settlements, another was determined that it was 
Bulgar, with a sprinkling of Greek ; and a third that it 
was pure Turk. 

When the Americans asserted their adherence to one 
of the cardinal principles of American law, that men 
may not be tried by ex post facto laws, France and Great 
Britain got into an acrimonious debate over the kaiser. 
America counseled patience, saying that history could 
show a legend of martyrdom for every royal captive 
punished by physical means. " Let him rust," said the 
Americans. " Monstrous ! " shouted Europe, which 
had read history, but not human nature. 

When America denied to Brussels the seat of the 
league on the ground that all peoples should meet in a 
city which called up no tragic memories of international 
dissension, Belgium cried out that it had been robbed of 
its legitimate fruit. As a reward for its martyrdom 
Belgium demanded the seat of the league. Europe 
thought of the league as an instrument to punish Ger- 
many, not as a vehicle for justice to all men. 

When President Wilson declared himself opposed to 
annexation of the Saar basin by France, the French 
asked why a friend was opposing their attempt to 
weaken an enemy. Should Germany remain in the 



THE FOUETEE:^^ points 375 

possession of great natural resources and use them 
to compete with France? Was not France to profit 
economically by the war ? 

President Wilson returned from Paris with the 
treaty of peace with Germany, and another treaty in his 
inside coat-pocket. France called it a " pact of guar- 
anty." It was an arrangement between the United 
States and France, and was similar, although not iden- 
tical, to an arrangement between France and Great 
Britain. It set forth that the United States would come 
to the aid of France immediately in case of any act of 
unprovoked aggression from Germany, in the event that 
certain stipulations in the Treaty of Versailles did not 
assure security and appropriate protection to France. 
These stipulations were enumerated to be the following : 
Article 42 of the treaty, which says that Germany may 
not construct fortifications on the left bank of the Rhine, 
or on the right bank, or west of a line fifty kilometers 
east of that river ; Article 43, which says Germany may 
not assemble permanent or temporary armed forces, or 
engage in military manoeuvers of any nature, or main- 
tain any facilities for mobilization within the zone 
mentioned in Article 42 ; and Article 44, which says 
that if Germany violates these provisions, it will be 
considered as an hostile act toward the signatories of 
the Treaty of Versailles and as likely to affect the peace 
of the world. 

The effect, then, of the agreement is to make it neces- 
sary for the United States to come to the aid of France 
in the event Germany again menaces the latter nation. 
The treaty between France and Great Britain is similar 



376 THE ADVENTUKES OF 

except that it says England consents to come to the aid 
of France. The treaties become binding when both 
Gr6at Britain and the United States have ratified them. 
They are to be submitted to the council of the League of 
ISTations, and may be adopted if the council approves of 
them by majority vote, and may be abrogated if one of 
the parties wishes to have this done and if the league 
grants sufficient protection. 

This treaty, which was signed on the same day as the 
treaty of peace, bears the signatures of M. Clemenceau, 
M. Pichon, Mr. Wilson, and Mr. Lansing. The British 
treaty was signed by M. Clemenceau, M. Pichon, Mr. 
Lloyd George, and Mr. Balfour. 

Exactly how and why this agreement came to be 
signed is not clear. Nor is it clear why, of all the 
Allied and Associated powers, only Great Britain and 
the United States entered into this agreement. It is 
practical proof that France does not think that the 
League of Nations will give her sufficient protection 
against the German danger in the future. 

According to Bertillon, the population of France is 
now approximately 35,000,000, although it is estimated 
as high as 37,000,000 by other authorities. Presum- 
ably France has lost over 3,000,000 inhabitants since 
the war began from all causes, including killed in the 
war, deaths from disease and exposure, deaths from 
natural causes, missing, and the decline in the birth- 
rate. In 1915-16 it was estimated that the birth-rate 
was ten to one thousand. Germany, on the other hand, 
at the lowest estimate, still has over 64,000,000 inhab- 
itants, and its birth-rate has not shown the large decline 



THE FOUETEEISr POINTS 377 

that has come to France. In the years from 1901 to 
1912 the average natural increase in population of 
France was one per cent., against Germany's fourteen 
per cent. This will illustrate concretely why France 
continues to fear the German avalanche. 

In the light of these figures it would appear just that 
powerful nations should come to the aid of France and 
guarantee her against unprovoked aggression. But who 
shall be the judge of what is unprovoked aggression? 
And is it not conceivable that, taking for granted that 
both nations retain their present rate of growth, the time 
will come when Germany, strong again, and restored to 
good standing among the nations, supported by a united 
and regenerated Russia, which has learned that expe- 
diency alone dictates friendship on the part of the Euro- 
pean neighbors, will ask that the surveillance over purely 
German territory be removed, and that the Saar basin, 
which is indubitably German, be restored to her sov- 
ereignty ? Will the United States then apply the prin- 
ciple of self-determination of nationalities, or still be 
inclined to support the claims of France as against the 
claims of Germany ? 

Better than signing the treaty of guaranty with 
France the United States should demand that the 
League of Nations adopt a comprehensive program of 
disarmament and compulsory arbitration. Then it 
should ask France to relinquish all claims over the Saar 
basin. That would help make the possibility of war 
much more remote than it is. 

But if American public opinion determines that the 
treaty with France, nevertheless, should be signed, the 



378 THE ADVENTURES OF 

United States should limit the operation of the pact to 
a definite number of years, not over fifteen, and as an 
ultimate safeguard should ask that similar agreements 
be entered into between France and all the nations sig- 
natory to the Treaty of Versailles except Germany, inas- 
much as it is unreasonable to ask the American and the 
British people alone to guarantee the inviolability of a 
pact that directly affects most of the nations of the 
world. 

Even before President Wilson sailed, the fight to 
make changes in the treaty of peace was begun in the 
United States Senate, which would have to ratify that 
document. The leaders of the opposition to the treaty 
as it came from the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles were 
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts, Senator 
Philander C. Knox of Pennsylvania, Senator William 
E. Borah of Idaho and Senator Hiram W. Johnson of 
California. Senator Lodge, as chairman of the com- 
mittee on foreign relations, was by virtue of his position 
the leader in the routine of ratification. As such he 
made the principal speeches against the treaty as it 
stood. Some of the opposition was due to a sincere 
desire to safeguard the interests of the United States 
and to ratify nothing that seemed prejudicial to Amer- 
ica's place in the world and her ideals. Again, other 
opposition, especially that which manifested itself in 
flamboyant speeches to the senate galleries, was due to 
the desire to make political capital out of certain discon- 
tent with parts of the treaty negotiated by President 
Wilson, and to give the impression that the President 
had sinned grievously against his own professed princi- 



THE FOURTEEN^ POINTS 379 

pies, against the interests of tlie United States, and 
against the interests of foreign peoples, notably those 
from whom we had received large groups of immigrants, 
who, as naturalized citizens, exerted an un-American 
influence on our political life. 

The objection to considering the Treaty of Versailles 
and the covenant of the League of Nations in one and 
the same instrument was one of the first to be raised in 
the Senate. Senator Knox introduced a resolution pro- 
viding for the separation of the covenant from the 
treaty. It became apparent that the resolution would 
not carry, and so was never brought to a vote. 

On the afternoon of July 10 President Wilson ap- 
peared before the Senate, and in an address presented 
the trea-ty for ratification. The President did not at- 
tempt to go into details about the treaty, but spoke in 
general terms of the work accomplished in Paris, and 
the effort of the conference to make '^ the final triumph 
of freedom and right a lasting triumph.'^ He said : 

Old entanglements of every kind stood in the way. Promises 
which the governments made one another in the days when might 
and right were confused and the power of the victor was without 
restraint, and engagements which contemplated any dispositions 
of territory and extensions of sovereignty that might seem to be 
to the interest of those who had power to insist upon them, had 
been entered into without thought of what the peoples concerned 
might wish or profit by, and these could not always honorably be 
brushed aside. It was not easy to graft the new order of ideas 
on the old, and some of the fruits of the grafting may, I fear, for 
a time be bitter, but with very few exceptions the men who sat 
with us at the peace table desired as sincerely as we did to get 
away from the bad influences, illegitimate purposes, and demoral- 
izing ambitions of international counsels and expedients out of 
which the sinister designs of Germany had sprung. . . . The work 
of the conference squares as a whole with the principles agreed 



380 THE ADVENTURES OF 

upon as the basis of peace, as well as with the practical possibili- 
ties of the international situation, which have to be faced and dealt 
with as facts. 

Immediate ratification, however, was out of the ques- 
tion. The Eepublicans controlled the Senate and were 
strong enough to defeat any motion for ratification 
which the Democrats might propose. Whereas in the 
ordinary routine of intercourse with other nations the 
President could carry out his own foreign policy, the 
provision that the Senate must consent to a treaty 
gave the Senate great power in determining our foreign 
policy on questions touched by this treaty. It became 
apparent instantly that although the President was thor- 
oughly within his rights in negotiating the Treaty of 
Versailles, it would have been the better part of wis- 
dom for him to name several Republican senators as 
members of the American mission to Paris, and to con- 
sult the Senate freely during various stages of the nego- 
tiations. With Senator Lodge on the mission, the whole 
course of events in Paris might have been more spectacu- 
lar and exciting, but the President would have had the 
chairman of the senate committee on foreign relations 
committed to the treaty when finally it was signed. 
Now he had to reckon with the opposition of Senators 
Lodge, Johnson, Poindexter, Brandegee, Harding, 
Borah, Moses, Smoot, McCormick, and others, all of 
whom declared themselves in favor of making reserva- 
tions which would materially affect the treaty. 

The changes sought in the treaty of peace affected the 
disposition of the German leaseholds in Shan-tung, 
which the senators declared should revert to China. 



THE rOUKTEEiNT POINTS 381 

The senators also sought a more definite reservation 
recognizing the Monroe Doctrine as an American policy ; 
a more specific declaration that the tariff and immigra- 
tion are questions which cannot be dealt with by an 
international body; and a more specific declaration 
asserting the constitutional right of Congress to say 
when, where, and for what purpose the military forces 
of the United States might be used, the latter reserva- 
tion growing out of the opposition of the senators to 
Article X of the covenant of the league, which guar- 
antees the territorial integrity of the league's members. 
Some of this opposition was due to the fight waged on 
the league by Sinn Fein sympathizers in the United 
States, who contended that this article would make it 
impossible for Ireland ever to achieve independence, or 
to get its independence recognized by other nations, as 
they were bound by this article to respect the integrity 
of British territory. There were many senators who 
felt that Article X made it necessary for the United 
States to send troops to guarantee the boundary-lines 
laid down by the Peace Conference, and who opposed 
any such use of the American power, especially in view 
of the fact that many of these boundaries were mani- 
festly unjust. 

The senate committee called before it a number of 
men associated with the negotiation of the Treaty of 
Versailles, including Secretary Lansing. An attempt 
had been made in the Senate to show that the secretary, 
Mr. White, and General Bliss had violently opposed the 
award of the German leases in Shan-tung to Japan, or, 
as the senators preferred to call it, the giving of Shan- 



382 THE ADVEHTUBES OF 

tung to Japan, which was of course misrepresentation 
of the facts. Secretary Lansing said in answer to a 
question by Senator Borah that a letter on the Shan-tung 
situation had been written by General Bliss to the Presi- 
dent on behalf of himself, Mr. White, and the secretary. 
He said that it was a private communication. 

On August 19 President Wilson discussed the treaty 
of peace in detail with the senate committee. At the 
intimation of the senators he invited them to the White 
House and answered their questions freely. The meet- 
ing was held in the East Room. Stenographic records 
were made, and given immediately to the press. These 
records are a fruitful source of information on the 
President's attitude toward certain parts of the treaty, 
notably the covenant of the league. The substance of 
much of what he said already had become known in 
Paris, but deserved reiteration in view of the misrepre- 
sentation to which he had been subjected by partizan 
opponents and misguided idealists who were holding on 
to the millennium for dear life. 

At the beginning of the conference President Wilson 
read a statement in which he pointed out how changes 
had been made in the covenant of the league to meet 
American wishes, a subject I have already dealt with in 
Chapter V. These changes were the addition of clauses 
covering the Monroe Doctrine, matters of domestic juris- 
diction, the right to withdraw from the league, and safe- 
guarding the constitutional right of Congress to deter- 
mine questions of peace and war. He said that the 
term " regional understanding '' had no hidden mean- 
ing, but was a general expression " to avoid the appear- 



THE rOUKTEElSr POmTS 383 

ance of dealing in such a document with the policy of 
a single nation." Similarly there could be no enumera- 
tion of domestic questions, although the President felt 
confident that naturalization, immigration, tariffs, and 
naturalization were questions with which no interna- 
tional body could deal. A nation had the right to 
withdraw when it had fulfilled its international obliga- 
tions, but he said that it rested entirely with the con- ^y 
science of the nation whether or not its international 
obligations had been fulfilled. 

" Article X," said the President, ^' is in no respect 
of doubtful meaning when read in the light of the cove- 
nant as a whole. The council can only ^ advise upon ' 
means by which the obligations of that great article are 
to be given effect to." He also said that ^' to respect 
and preserve as against external aggression the territo- 
rial integrity and existing political independence of all 
members of the league " constitutes a grave and solemn 
moral obligation, but not a legal obligation, and leaves 
our Congress free to put its own interpretation upon all 
cases that call for action. 

In answer to questions President Wilson said he had 
seen a plan for a league drawn up by a British com- 
mittee headed by Baron Phillimore, and that he wrote a 
redraft. He also examined General Sfiauts' paper, and 
was especially interested in the plan for disposing of the 
pieces of the dismembered empire. The draft of Arti- 
cle X was his own. He said that the mandatory power 
primarily would defend a mandate from external aggres- 
sion. 

A large number of questions, especially those asked 



384 THE ADVENTURES OF 

by Senators Johnson and Borah, centered on the transfer 
of the German leases in Shan-tung to China. President 
Wilson said that Japan did not retain sovereignty over 
anything and had promised not to. He was asked 
whether this promise was oral or written. He replied : 
" Technically oral, and literally written and formu- 
lated, and the formulation agreed upon." He said that 
there was no date set for the return of the occupied ter- 
ritory to China, that the Japanese had declined to fix a 
date because they were unable to give it at that time. He 
believed Japan would carry out her promise. Japan's 
delegates had been instructed not to sign if a decision 
was not reached on Shan-tung favorable to Japan. The 
other powers felt bound by their agreements to Japan. 
He felt that the decision of the Peace Conference affect- 
ing China was a disappointment. He said that he had 
no doubt that should China make complaint to the coun- 
cil of the league about Shan-tung, the league would hear 
her case promptly. The league was really the body to 
safeguard the weaker nations, because ^^ it brings to 
bear the opinion of the world and the controlling action 
of the world on all relationships of that hazardous sort, 
particularly those relationships which involve the rights 
of the weaker nations. After all, the wars that are 
likely to come are most likely to come by aggression 
against the weaker nations. Without the League of 
!N^ations they have no buttress or protection. With it 
they have the united protection of the world ; and inas- 
much as it is the universal opinion that the great tragedy 
through which we have just passed never would have 
occurred if the Central powers had dreamed that a num- 



THE FOURTEEISr POINTS 385 

ber of nations would be combined against them, so I 
have the utmost confidence that this notice beforehand, 
that the strong nations of the world will in every case 
be united, will make war extremely unlikely." 

And here we may well take leave of the President 
and the Fourteen Points. The great covenant has been 
drawn, and the first step in the achievement of a just 
and lasting peace has been accomplished. What reser- 
vations may be made, what changes may come about in 
the treaty of peace, are of small significance beside the 
great outstanding fact that the conference at Paris en- 
deavored, for the first time in history, to adjust inter- 
national affairs in the light of certain definite principles 
of justice and fair dealing to all men. That fact over- 
shadows all else, even its failures; it is a message that 
has gone to the ends of the earth, a standard by which 
international intercourse in the future must inevitably 
be measured. And this standard America has formu- 
lated for the world. 



THE ETTD 



A PEACE CONGRESS 
OF INTRIGUE 

AN INTIMATE ACCOUNT OF THE 
CONGRESS OF VIENNA, 1815 

Compiled by Frederick Freksa; translated, and with 
an introduction and notes, by Harry Hansen 

The genesis of the war of 1914-1918 goes back to the Con- 
gress of Vienna, for here Prussia laid the foundation for the 
military domination of Germany which made it possible for her 
to disturb the peace of the world. Here the rulers turned a deaf 
ear to the misery of Poland; crushed the rising tide of liberalism 
in the German Confederacy; strengthened iBourbonism in France 
and set Hapsburg rule over Italian States that had to bleed half 
a century longer before they achieved unity. 

In this book the author has drawn upon the wonderful story 
of social and political intrigue told by the participants them- 
selves in their memoirs; and here pass in review such figures as 
Hardenberg, Wellington, Admiral Sir Sidney Smith, Gentz, Dal- 
berg, the Prince de Ligne, Count de la Garde, Frederick William 
of Prussia, Francis of Austria, Marie Louise and Napoleon's 
son, the young King of Rome, the fascinating Countess Zichy, 
Archduke John of Austria and most of the princes and princesses, 
dukes and barons and crafty statesmen of an age the influence of 
which survived even down to our own time. 

" The Congress of Vienna " is so clearly an introduction to 
the Congress of 1919, and presents so many contrasts and sim- 
ilarities, that the reading of " A Peace Congress of Intrigue " in 
connection with " The Adventures of the Fourteen Points " is 
recommended as highly profitable and entertaining, as well as 
most instructive for the reader of history. 

8vo, 447 pages 
Price $2.50 

At All Bookstores nplll? mJTfTDV PA 353 Fourtli Avenue 
Published by ill£t£lliUKl tU* New York City 



THE NEW MAP 
OF ASIA 

By HERBERT ADAMS GIBBONS 

Author of "The New Map of Europe," "The New 
Map of Africa," etc. 

A discussion of the working out of European Eminent Do- 
main in the continent of Asia during the fifteen years before the 
war and the five years of war. The book comes up to the Treaty 
of Versailles, and discusses the attitude of the Peace Conference 
towards Asiatic subject races, and towards Persia, Afghanistan, 
Siam and China. The role of Japan and the relations between 
Japan and China are fully discussed. The Shantung question 
is explained with the endeavor to present both sides of the ques- 
tion of Japanese intervention in China. 

The other two burning questions of the hour — the relations 
of Great Britain with Asia (affected now very vitally by the 
collapse of Russia and the rise of Bolshevism and Wilsonianism) 
and the disposition of the Ottoman Empire — are treated with 
especial reference to what happened at the Peace Conference. 

By his intimate association with Asiatic questions and 
leaders and representatives of all the Asiatic nations at the 
Peace Conference during the entire period of the Conference, Dr. 
Gibbons was able to build a living book of intense interest upon 
the basis of his long years of study of these questions. 

8vo, 571 pages, with maps 
Price $2.50 

At AU Bookstores TUT ri?\TTfTDV TA 353 Fourth Avenue 
Published by lllCr v£lliUl%l LU* New York City 



THE COMMAND IS 
FORWARD 

From " The Stars and Stripes " 
By SERGEANT ALEXANDER WOOLLCOTT 

This is a book that every member of the A. E. F. should hold 
as a prized possession. It is also a book of side-lights on the 
war which Americans will read with well-founded pride. It is a 
book of humor, of pathos that touches to tears of which no reader 
can be ashamed; a book of brilliant and powerful descriptions 
of men and things which we of this country need to know about. 
Outside of dry official reports, it is perhaps the mast authentic 
report of American fighting on the Western Front that has been 
published. 

Sergeant Woollcott saw more of the work of the American 
fighting on the Western Front than any other one man in the A. 
E. F. That was not by chance. As reporter for " The Stars and 
Stripes," the very own newspaper of the A. E. F., it was his 
business to go all up and down the line and report for every one 
of the millions of A. E. F. men what all the others were doing. 
He of course enjoyed facilities that no other writer could possibly 
command. One of the most brilliant of New York journalists 
with years of training behind him, he presented all his stories 
with extraordinary power and some of them with such beauty 
that they will undoubtedly come to be classics of war-time 
literature. 

It is now next to impossible to buy for love or money com- 
plete files of " The Stars and Stripes," but the best of its stories 
are in this book, which is illustrated with the best of the remark- 
able drawings done for the paper by C. Leroy Baldridge. 

12mo, 304 pages, illustrated 
Price $1.75 

At All Bookstores TUT rFMTITDV TA 353 Fourth Avenue 
FubUshed by iutt vJullIUtll vU* New York City 



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